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WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 


A  BOOK  OF   STRATEGY  FOR 
ENGLISH  TEACHERS 


BY 

C.  H.  WARD,  M.A. 

HEAD  OP  THR  DKPARTMKNT  OP  ENGLISH,  THE  TAPT  SCHOOL, 
WATERTOWN,  CONNECTICUT 


SCOTT,  FORESMAN  AND  COMPANY 
CHICAGO      ATLANTA      NEW  YORK 


Copyright  1917  by 
Scott,  Foresman  and  Company 

247 


To 

ALBERT     SHAW 

"Who  once  taught  me  the  most  valuable  lesson  an 
English  teacher  can  learn 


5  71 5574 


PREFACE 

Many  of  the  ideas  in  this  book  have  been  elabo- 
rated as  special  articles,  but  the  chapters  are  in  no 
sense  a  set  of  reprinted  essays.  Thanks  are  due  to 
the  following  journals  for  permission  to  adapt  or 
use  parts  of  what  they  published: 

English  Journal 

Intensive  Spelling,  Oct.,  1914 
Punctator  Gingriens,  Sep.,  1915 
We  Must  Not  Be  Enemies,  Feb.,  1916 
The  Bottomless  Pond  of  oes,  March,  1916 
The  Scale  Illusion,  April,  1917 

Education 

English  Apparatus,  Nov.,  1915 

/ 
ational  Review 

What  Is  English?    Feb.,  1916 

English  Leaflet 
Inculcated  Love,  Feb.,  1915 
Defending  Camelot,  Oct.,  1916 

School  Review 

A  Platform  of  Grammar,  April,  1916 

Bulletin  of  the  Illinois  Association 
Exploring  the  Comma,  Nov.,  1916 


CONTEXTS 

PAGE 

Preface  5 

/    Introduction   9 

Chapter  I.   What  English  Is 15 

II.    Descent  to  Earth 29 

—3*    HI.    Intensive  Spelling 36 

,  IV.   What  Grammar  Is  All  About 74 

V.    Teaching  Grammar. 96 

VI.   John  Wilson  's  Idea 115 

VII.    What  Is  a  Comma? 128 

VIII.    Present  Usage  in  Pointing 154 

•         IX.    Themes 189 

1        X.    Reading    '.219 

XI.    Odds  and  Ends 244 


L 


INTRODUCTION 

A  paraphrase  of  the  Advertisement  to  The  Vicar 
of  Wakefield  will  serve  to  introduce  this  book.  "A 
hundred  doubts  may  be  stirred  by  this  manual,  and 
a  hundred  things  could  be  said  to  prove  them  ground- 
less. But  it  is  needless.  A  book  may  be  iisefnj_with 
1 1 u merous_  over-statements ,  or  it  may  be  erroneous 
witEbuljaL_single  emphatic  remark.  Such  as  are  fond 
of  pulpit-banging  will  turn  with  disdain  from  the 
author's  simple  work-shop.  Such  as  mistake  suave 
wording  for  sound  teaching  will  find  no  help  in  this 
kit  of  tools  for  a  laborer,  and  such  as  have  been 
taught  to  deride  accuracy  will  laugh  at  one  whose 
whole  stock  of  advice  is  drawn  from  the  facts  of  a 
long  experience.' p 

English  has  until  recently  been  considered  above 
and  beyond  other  subjects  of  the  curriculum.  Its 
function  lias  been  supposed  to  be  the  cultivation 
of  insight  into  beauty,  of  charm  and  finesse  in 
'■xpression.  Teachers  have  taken  pride  in  the 
idea  that  their  beautiful  occupation  had  little  to 
do  with  imparting  facts  to  crassly  ignorant  minds ; 
have  felt  little  need  of  accurate  knowledge  or  careful 
scheme  of  attack.  Algohrn,  Latin,  physics — these 
required  a  teacher  to  have  definite  information  and 
to  go  about  his  instruction  according  to  plans  worked 
out  through  centuries  of  experience.  But  English — 
that  demanded  only  hazy  desire  and  the  throb  of 
inspiration.  A  large  proportion  of  its  teachers,  in 
both   school  and  college,  have  been  dilettanteish, 

9 


10  INTRODUCTION 

amateurish,  ignorant  of  fact,  and  scornful  of  system. 
They  have  professed  horror  at  the  notion  that  the 
main  purpose  of  secondary  English  is  to  attack 
methodically  the  most  rudimentary  illiteracy.  They 
have  felt  that  such  a  proposal  could  come  only  from 
a  mental  blacksmith,  and  have  thus  made  the  me- 
chanics of  their  art  an  almost  unmentionable  subject. 
But  they  have  not  denied  the  necessity  of  the  gross 
mechanics,  and  in  practice  have  done  much  good 
work. 

Such  a  jumble  of  emotion  and  fact  perplexes  the 
novice.  And  there  is  another  potent  cause  of  per- 
plexity— the  experts  in  pedagogy.  They  occupy 
lofty  positions,  they  thunder  in  conventions,  they 
appal  us  with  articles  and  books.  Though  they  know 
nothing  of  the  craft  of  teaching  English,  they  tell 
us  of  noble  aims:  "Why  instead  of  confining  our 
students  to  English  literature  do  we  not  make  them 
acquainted  with  the  first-class  literature  of  man- 
kind V  This  from  a  prominent  man  in  our  oldest 
university.  An  even  better-known  man  has  written 
" authoritatively' '  about  spelling.  The  only  par- 
ticles of  information  in  his  brochure  are  wrong  in 
principle;  there  is  hardly  a  sentence  that  presents 
anything  concrete;  the  adjurations  are  mostly  im- 
possible to  follow.  Lest  such  violent  language  should 
seem  the  impertinence  of  a  small  man  toward  great 
ones,  the  reader  is  referred  to  an  article  in  the  Un- 
popular Review  for  July,  1916,  "The  Professor  of 
Pedagogy  Once  More,"  written  by  a  man  who  "for 
twenty  years  in  several  institutions  has  been  next- 
door  neighbor' '  to  professors  of  pedagogy,  and  who 
"has  on  his  shelves  seventeen  feet  of  pedagogic  lit- 
erature."   This  article  is  not  savage  or  vindictive 


INTRODUCTION  11 

or  satirical;  it  rather  good-naturedly  states  such 
facts  as  these:  " Among  the  secondary  school-teach- 
ers, of  course,  the  professor  of  pedagogy  is  an  oracle 
and  a  great  man.  And  it  is  the  secondary  school  to 
which,  almost  exclusively,  he  addresses  his  litera- 
ture. .  .  .  Few  college  professors  would  be  so 
naive  as  to  discuss  their  methods  with  a  pedagogical 
expert.  ...  He  knows,  too,  that  only  a  sort  of 
professional  courtesy  prevents  them  from  frankly 
calling  him  a  humbug.  .  .  .  His  whole  'line  of 
talk'  reveals  that  he  has  never  considered  the  ques- 
tion of  dealing  wTith  responsible  minds.  .  .  . 
Their  praises  of  the  delights  of  literature  and  art 
have  a  curious  way  of  suggesting,  by  the  vagueness 
and  generality  of  the  terms,  that  these  delights  are 
being  reported,  rather  than  recalled  from  personal 
experience.  ...  In  the  teacher  of  experience, 
who  takes  the  pedagogical  courses  as  a  condition  of 
promotion,  they  excite  only  ridicule  and  contempt." 
Where  can  the  novice  look  for  counsel!  He  knows 
not  what  his  objective  is,  nor  what  to  do,  nor  how  to 
do  it,  nor  how  to  correlate  the  demands  for  litera- 
ture and  written  composition  and  oral  composition 
and  spelling  and  grammar  and  " appreciation' '  and 
clear  thinking  and  self-expression  and  sentence- 
structure  and  analysis  of  style — and  so  on,  world 
without  end.  TngYj^fjipTmed  tpflrhftrs  F^lf^im  ^"Q  ^^ 
third  of  the  English  work  in  the  high  school?  of  the 
author's  fltflte,  and  probably  that  ratio  holds  for 
the  rest  of  the  country.  They  cannot  rely  on  their 
texts  for  guidance  as  teachers  of  algebra  can;  and 
so  rapidly  have  methods  changed  that  they  may  get 
only  misdirection  by  recalling  how  they  themselves 
were  taught  when  they  were  in  school.    So  there  is  a 


12  INTRODUCTION 

real  use  for  a  vade  mecum  which  shall  display  what 
one  man  has  observed,  what  he  has  found  essential, 
how  he  drives  at  that  objective,  and  what  devices 
he  has  learned  to  employ.  Such  a  guide  may  be  wide 
of  the  truth  in  some  particulars ;  not  all  of  it  can  be 
used  by  any  one  reader.  But  it  is  a  coherent  body 
of  practice  which  is  available  until  a  teacher  has  had 
time  to  build  up  a  codex  of  his  own.  Everything 
here  presented  is  the  result  of  experience — an  ex- 
perience based  on  acquaintance  with  the  product  of 
many  schools  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Every  one 
of  the  suggestions  has  been  tested  for  at  least  five 
/years  and  most  of  them  for  twelve ;  some  for  eighteen. 
Hardly  anything  has  been  arrived  at  by  experiment- 
ing with  a  preconception ;  everything  has  been  forced 
upon  the  author  by  observing  what  was  effective 
with  particular  young  human  beings  who  sat  on 
material  benches  in  an  actual  class-room. 

For  the  most  part  a  colloquial  style  has  been  used. 
The  author  has  thought  it  better  to  say  "I"  and 
"you"  and  "don't"  and  "tackle,"  because  he  is  a 
practical  workman  who  fears  formality  when  he  is 
talking  about  his  trade. 

After  this  volume  was  ready  for  the  press  the 
author  read  Rollo  Walter  Brown's  How  the  French 
'Boy  Learns  to  Write.  Mr.  Brown's  inquiries  were 
scrupulously  and  fully  made;  the  results  are  care- 
fully compiled  and  temperately  expressed.  Here  is 
an  epitome  of  the  judgment  of  the  world's  most  clear- 
sighted, most  literary  nation  on  the  teaching  of  its 
mother-tongue.  It  appears  that  the  French  boy, 
"not  superior  in  intellect  to  the  American  boy,  and 
not  aided  by  some  sort  of  magic  in  his  native  lan- 
guage, writes  with  sharper  accuracy  of  thought, 


INTRODUCTION  13 

surer  and  more  intelligent  freedom."  Yet  France 
"does  not  believe  that  the  great  body  of  boys  shouM 
be  trained  in  any  special  graces,  has  no  idea  of  mak- 
ing a  great  body  of  literary  writers. "  "In  the  early 
grades  the  matters  to  receive  chief  attention  are 
ordinary  accuracy  and  conventional  correctness." 
Simplified  grammar,  especially  "the  functions  of 
words  in  ordinary  sentences,"  is  carried  purpose- 
fully through  the  whole  school  course ;  teachers  take 
the  position  that  a  boy's  ability  to  express  himself 
well  "must  eventually  depend  in  large  measure  upon 
his  skill  in  handling  the  sentence,  and  that  this  skill 
must  come  in  part  from  deep-seated,  long-established 
knowledge  of  sentence  elements."  France  requires 
that  every  pupil  in  its  secondaire  schools  "shall  have 
his  attention  called  to  punctuation"  from  his  eighth 
t<>  his  tenth  years  and  shall  be  taught  "the  principles 
of  punctuation ' '  during  the  next  two  years.  The  suc- 
cess of  these  efforts  may  be  gaged  by  one  of  Mr. 
Brown's  experiments.  A  class  of  28  French  boys 
(aged  11  and  12)  wrote  from  dictation  a  paragraph 
of  Knglish  (64  words)  which  they  had  never  seen 
before;  11  wrote  without  error.  When  the  same 
paragraph  was  tried  in  American  schools  with  500 
pupils  of  the  same  or  higher  grades,  only  11  wrote 
without  error — i.  e.,  the  younger  French  pupils  were 
18  times  better.  This  is  hardly  so  astonishing  as  a 
bit  of  evidence  that  the  present  writer  can  adduce :  a 
set  of  twelve-minute  themes,  written  at  Cambrai  for 
an  American  teacher  of  English  at  the  lycee,  mere 
class  tests  for  idiom  written  by  fourteen-year-old 
boys,  written  tor  a  teacher  who  never  had  a  word  to 
say  about  punctuation — these  show  only  two  petty 
instances  of  carelessness  with  commas.    France  has 


14  INTRODUCTION 

achieved  in  the  schools,  by  the  only  possible  method 
— patient  and  unrelenting  care  with  fundamentals — 
what  our  best  universities  agonize  over  and  can  only 
partially  attain.  Anyone  who  is  skeptical  about  the 
wisdom  of  What  is  English?  will  do  well  to  read  How 
the  French  Boy  Learns  to  Write. 

The  most  astonishing  portion  of  this  message  from 
France  is  the  answer  to  the  question:  "What  is  the 
objective  in  all  teaching  of  the  mother-tongue  f ' '  Our 
American  answer  has  been  that  there  is  a  double  ob- 
jective :  1.  (minor)  some  graces  of  style,  2.  (major) 
stimulating  a  taste  for  good  literature.  But  France 
says :  "  It  is  the  conviction  of  the  great  body  of  teach- 
ers, as  well  as  the  Ministry,  that  work  in  grammar, 
rhetoric,  and  literature  is  in  most  respects  lost  unless 
it  contributes  to  the  pupil 's  ability  to  give  full,  intel- 
ligent expression  to  his  thought.  Moreover,  theories 
of  teaching,  and  all  the  proposed  changes  in  the 
course  of  study  seem  to  be  considered  first  in  respect 
to  their  influence  on  this  ability  of  the  pupil.  Ex- 
pression is  not  the  sole  end,  but  in  all  the  lower 
schools  it  is  the  primary  end." 

The  voice  of  France  speaks  there.  A  voice  is  now 
being  heard  from  American  universities  (see  pages 
17-22)  that  issues  the  same  mandate  to  secondary 
teachers.  It  declares  that  originality  without  literacy 
is  valueless.  These  voices  must  be  heeded  by  one 
who  would  avoid  failure.  But  the  following  of  their 
counsel  is  a  complicated  task.  It  is  the  aim  of  this 
book  to  supply  the  knowledge  necessary  to  success. 


CHAPTER  I 


WHAT  ENGLISH  IS 


No  inexperienced  teacher  needs  to  be  told  what 
algebra  is,  or  Latin,  or  German.  Among  teachers 
and  superintendents  there  is  no  discussion  of  what 
these  subjects  are,  nor  is  there  wide  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  just  how  they  must  be  taught.  If  a  nov- 
Ice  were  suddenly  told  to  take  an  arithmetic  class,  he 
would  not  need  to  consult  about  what  he  was  to  do; 
his  textbook  would  be  in  itself  a  sufficient  guide. 
The  long  sets  of  problems,  the  careful  grading  of 
these  sets  from  very  easy  to  somewhat  hard,  the 
elaborate  display  of  every  step  in  working  a  new 
kind  of  problem,  the  wary  and  slow  advance  from 
one  small  difficulty  to  another — the  whole  plan  of 
the  hook  declares  on  every  page  that  things  which 
are  simple  to  the  teacher  are  perplexing  to  the  child, 
that  the  teacher  must  take  time  and  be  thorough, 
that  arithmetic  is  a  long  campaign  in  which  the  con- 
-t  of  simple  fractions  is  a  huge  operation. 

But  suppose  the  subject  were  new  and  that  pro- 
bers of  astronomy,  with  little  sympathy  for  chil- 
dren's minds,  were  furnishing  the  textbooks.  Their 
brains  have  heen  engrossed  with  stellar  parallax  and 
the  hyperbolic  courses  of  comets.  The  result  would  be 
a  preface  explaining  that  "Arithmetic  is  an  intro- 
duction t<>  that  noblest  and  most  useful  of  sciences, 
to  the  science  of  quantity  and  arrangement,  to  the 
Btudy  of  i<leal  const  nut  ions,  and  the  discovery  there- 

15 


16  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

by  of  relations  -between  the  parts  of  these  construc- 
tions." The  untrained  teacher,  trusting  that  the 
great  savant  knew  his  business,  would  dutifully  re- 
quire William  and  Susan  to  commit  this  precious 
truth  to  memory.  Then  he  would  begin  with  a  lesson 
in  subtracting  decimals,  quickly  go  through  a  page 
in  long  division,  spend  two  recitations  on  fractions, 
devote  three  days  to  percentage,  and  so  quickly  pro- 
ceed to  quadratic  equations  and  the  plotting  of 
curves. 

This  is  exaggerated  and  sarcastic.  Yet  it  comes 
much  nearer  to  plain  facts  than  any  of  us  realize.  It 
represents  all  too  vividly  the  plainest  and  most  pain- 
ful truth  about  English  textbooks.  Most  of  them 
have  been  written  in  a  literary  atmosphere  as  dif- 
ferent from  school-room  necessities  as  astronomy 
is  from  simple  decimals.  Their  prefatory  remarks 
are  hardly  less  astonishing  than  the  bit  of  fiction 
quoted  above.  One  author  writes:  "An  artist  does 
not  paint  a  masterpiece  without  continual  effort, 
changing,  modifying,  perfecting  his  work  by  de- 
grees. Only  constant  rewriting  will  help  you  to 
gain  the  power  of  self-expression."  That  may  be 
as  true  as  the  definition  of  mathematics,  but  it  is 
like  the  astronomy  of  rhetoric.  Another  author 
says :  "After  matters  of  technique  have  become  so 
easy  for  us  that  we  need  to  give  them  little  attention, 
we  may  seek  for  something  original  to  say";  and 
again,  "When  these  elements  of  literary  construc- 
tion are  once  understood,  the  problem  of  composi- 
tion is  merely  that  of  their  effective  combination." 
This  is  sheer  astronomy. 

Listen' to  four  illustrations  of  the  hard  facts  of 
practice:  (1)  It  is  all  but  impossible  in  four  years  to 


WHAT  ENGLISH  IS  17 

train  a  whole  class  of  bright  boys  to  write  we  shall  or 
to  avoid  try*  and  crys.  (2)  A  professor  in  one  of  our 
oldest  universities  testifies  that  all  he  can  exact  as 
an  English  requirement  for  the  degree  of  Ph.B.  is 
reasonably  decent  spelling  and  punctuation;  that  to 
insist  on  skill  in  paragraphing  would  mean  the  with- 
holding of  so  many  degrees  that  other  departments 
would  protest.  (3)  One  of  our  largest  universities, 
which  organizes  freshman  composition  very  strictly, 
gives  a  passing  grade  for  mere  freedom  from  me- 
chanical errors.  (4)  A  great  state  university,  which 
has  a  high  standard  for  entrance,  announces  to 
schools,  in  order  that  they  may  not  go  astray  in  Eng- 
lish work,  that  the  only  requirement  of. candidates 
for  admission  is  " proficiency  in  rudiments";  that 
candidates  are  qualified  if  their  writing  "is  devoid 
of  interest,  originality,  or  any  other  literary  merit.  \  \ 
Yet  this  university  has  to  organize  every  fall  a  large 
class  for  freshmen  who  are  incompetent  in  mere 
mechanics. 

These  testimonies  (a  whole  bookful  of  similar  ones 
could  be  gathered)  are  recent.  Twenty-five  years 
ago,  when  English  was  brand-new,  such  statements 
would  have  been  heard  with  horror;  for  rhetorics 
dealt  mostly  with  astronomy — that  is,  with  qualities 
of  grace  and  charm.  Fifteen  years  ago  such  state- 
ments would  have  been  a  little  better  understood,  but 
few  teachers  would  have  sympathized  with  them. 
Ten  years  ago  it  still  required  courage  to  make  any 
such  declaration ;  it  would  have  been  likely  to  brand 
a  man  as  mechanical,  inartistic,  soulless.  The  Eng- 
lish-teaching world  still  directed  its  telescope  toward 
the  stars,  still  had  that  lofty  literary  ideal.  Five 
years  ago  the  harsh  facts  were  beginning  to  be  per- 


18  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ceived.  In  1909  the  Princeton  catalogue  spoke  only 
of  examination  questions  on  "subject-matter,  struc- 
ture, and  style  of  these  books.' ■  In  1913  a  very 
significant  addition  was  made :  and  his  proficiency  in 
English  composition. 

From  every  college  in  the  country  goes  up  the  cry, 
"Our  freshmen  can't  spell,  can't  punctuate.' '  Every 
high  school  is  in  despair  because  its  pupils  are  so 
woefully  ignorant  of  the  merest  rudiments.  A  refor- 
mation is  everywhere  demanded.  It  is  being  brought 
about,  and  so  rapidly  that  most  textbooks  are 
stranded  in  the  idealism  of  a  decade  ago,  and  many 
teachers  are  floundering  badly  in  the  new  conditions. 
It  is  hard  to  keep  pace  with  the  swift  change ;  hard 
to  know  what  it  is  all  about,  or  why  our  duties  are 
preached  to  us  in  such  contradictory  terms.  "In- 
spire" is  still  the  watch^cry ;  "drill  in  rudiments"  is 
soonJ^Jhe_the_fa£t. 

A  bit  of  personal  experience  will  show  how  times 
are  changing.  The  first  chapter  of  a  draft  of  this 
book  written  three  years  ago  had  a  legend  in  capi- 
tals :  '  '  This  is  not  guaranteed  wisdom ;  it  is  merely 
what  I  find  it  necessary  to  do. ' '  So  much  was  it  the 
fashion  to  denounce  drill  in  rudiments  that  the  book 
might  have  been  less  effective  if  it  had  spoken  un- 
qualifiedly. That  fashion  has  so  much  changed  now 
that  I  should  feel  no  hesitation  in  saying,  "This  is 
guaranteed  wisdom";  because  every  number  of  the 
English  Journal,  every  talk  with  a  college  instructor, 
makes  it  plainer  that  English-teaching  has  been  in- 
efficient— sadly  inefficient— and  that  we  have  had 
the  wrong  notion  of  our  duty.  In  1912,  in  the  first 
number  of  the  English  Journal,  a  high-school  teacher 
declared:  "Everywhere  the  answer  is  the  same.  The 


WHAT  ENGLISH   is  19 

colleges  cannot  sufficiently  condemn  our  product. 
.  .  .  Business  men  tell  us  that  our  graduates  cannot 
write  a  decent  letter.' ' 

One  possible  misunderstanding  must  be  here 
stated  emphatically.  If  it  can  be  removed,  this  will 
be  the  most  important  paragraph  in  the  book.  I  am 
not  arguing  that  tries  is  of  greater  importance  than 
a  lively  introduction  to  a  theme.  I  am  not  arguing 
tli.it  a  semicolon  is  better  than  emulating  the  charm 
of  Stevenson.  I  have  not  the  least  feeling  that  me- 
( 'balneal  accuracy  is  more  blessed  than  graceful  style. 
I  do  not  think  any  less  of  George  Meredith  because 
he  once  wrote  alright.  I  am  not  in  any  way  or  de- 
gree, anywhere  in  this  book,  instituting  any  com- 
parison between  two  such  utterly  unlike  things  as 
knowledge  of  mechanics  and  literary  skill.  That 
\\<»uld  be  as  monstrous  as  to  compare  ditch-digging 
with  painting  a  madonna.  Knowledge  of  how  to 
form  plurals  or  to  use  commas  is  one  of  the  unlove- 
liest  things  in  an  ugly  world.  It  gives  me  no  joy 
whatever.  But  my  lack  of  joy  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  case.  The  sad  fact  of  nation-wide  experience  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century  is  that  our  effort  to  teach 
charming  English  has  not  amounted  to  much,  and 
tli at  our  failure  to  teach  decent  English  is  so  scanda- 
lous that  men  point  the  finger  of  scorn  at  us.  Our1 
first  and  simplest  and  plainest  duty  is  to  teach  decent 
English.  Not  the  most  seraphic  of  the  astronomers 
of  rhetoric  ever  opposed  that  idea.  But  we  have 
thought  this  elementary  part  of  the  task  so  easy  that 
it  could  be  performed  incidentally,  as  a  sort  of  side- 
issue.  Actually  it  is  very  hard,  requiring  careful 
approach,  skilful  handling,  and  arduous  labor.  That 
first  task  must  be  done  first.    This  hook  denies  none 


20  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

of  the  glorious  possibilities  that  may  lie  beyond.  Its 
purpose  is  to  assert  that  what  is  of  primary  impor- 
tance musfhave  foremost  consideration. 

That  is  what  English  is  today — the  teaching  of 
plain  essentials  of  decent  style.  When  it  first  be- 
came a  college-entrance  subject,  it  was  generally  de- 
fined as  "  power  to  appreciate  literature. ' '  Examina- 
tions required  the  candidate  to  show  some  ability  to 
criticize  and  appraise  literary  values.  The  attention 
of  high  schools  was  fixed  on  the  reading  of  classics, 
on  developing  "insight/ '  and  on  writing  about  books 
1  *  appreciatively.  ■ '  This  kind  of  thing  lasted  through 
the  90 's  and  into  the  present  century.  How  result- 
less  it  all  was  may  be  judged  from  a  paper  written 
in  1905  by  a  Harvard  examiner,  in  which  he  calls  the 
fetish  "that  indefinable  and  vague  quality."  He 
would  not  have  dared  to  utter  those  words  ten  years 
previously.  Now  he  is  not  afraid  to  say :  "So  few 
possess  'literary  appreciation*  that  after  a  careful 
search  through  the  higher  graded  books  of  the  spring 
and  fall  examinations  of  the  last  two  years  I  have 
found  no  specimen  to  quote  which  possesses  more 
than  a  semblance."  This  college  instructor  longs 
just  as  much  as  ever  for  the  teacher  who  can  "inspire 
the  writer  with  something  of  the  spirit  that  awakens 
the  consciousness  of  literary  appreciation,,;  but  has 
to  protest  that  as  a  matter  of  fact  no  such  power  has 
been  evidenced  on  the  Harvard  papers. 

Then  he  proposes  a  substitute:  "To  create  and 
give  utterance  to  his  own  ideas ;  freer,  more  natural, 
and  more  individual  expression;  his  individuality 
counts  for  everything. ' '  That  has  been  the  slogan 
in  the  twentieth  century.  All  our  texts  and  councils 
and  addresses  to  conventions  have  had  much  to  say 


WHAT  BNGLISB   18  U 

expressing  ourselves  in  a  pleasing  way. "  They 
have  seldom  failed  to  imply  the  scorn  which  this  Har- 
vard man  put  so  fiercely:  "Teaching  this  living, 
breathing  English  composition  as  mechanically  as 
they  do  the  unchangeable  and  rigid  laws  of  science." 
Hence  few  teachers  have  dared  to  profess  publicly 
that  they  paid  any  attention  to  mechanics.  The  word 
has  been  anathema.  No,  we  have  all  been  for  pleas- 
ing self-expression. 

But  these  glittering  ambitions  were  all  the  while 
covering  a  most  hideous  reality,  which  it  was  not 
good  form  to  discuss.  The  ugly  fact  of  horrible  illit- 
eracy was  not  to  be  mentioned  in  our  soulful  circles. 
The  Harvard  man  politely  referred  to  it  in  his  paper 
as  "what  the  examiner  ought  not  to  find."  Since  it 
must  not  be  named,  he  employed  that  delicate  euphe- 
mism. He  adroitly  said,  "The  familiarity  of  the 
teacher  with  what  I  am  talking  about  warns  me  to 
omit  discussion.  ■  ■  Even  when  he  is  "  tempted  to  pre- 
sent a  few  examples"  of  this  unmentionable  thing, 
he  chooses  blunders  in  diction  and  cases  of  wobbly 
structure.  It  is  curious  to  see  how  very,  very  refined 
the  world  was  in  that  by-gone  age — for  ten  years  is 
a  historical  epoch  in  the  history  of  English. 

Yet  the  Harvard  man  misrepresented  a  great  body 
of  university  opinion.  Colleges  loathed  and  dreaded 
the  slipshod  preparatory  work,  but  failed  to  insist 
that  we  should  do  with  thoroughness  the  humble  part 
of  our  duty.  They  failed  because  there  was  no  agree- 
ment on  the  question  of  what  English  is.  What  they 
Umged  for  was  carefulness;  what  they  were  princi- 
pally occupied  with  themselves,  what  they  talked 
about  before  us,  was  "appreciation."  We  have  all 
D  confused,  at  variance,  unguided.    The  colleges 


22  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

have  misled  us ;  high  schools,  planning  their  courses 
for  students  who  are  not  to  receive  further  educa- 
tion, have  assumed  a  college  attitude,  have  fixed  their 
attention  on  "appreciation"  and  "living,  breathing 
composition." 

If  we  were  so  eager  to  imitate  when  the  model  was 
"appreciation,"  we  should  be  no  less  eager  to  imi- 
tate now  that  the  model  is  "accuracy  first."  Very 
lately  we  have  had  the  unabashed  confession  from 
four  high-minded  university  instructors  that  they 
condition  a  theme  in  the  first  semester  of  freshman 
year  for  three  misspelled  words  or  one  incomplete 
sentence.*  They  may  be  all  wrong.  This  book  has 
nothing  to  do  with  any  discussion  of  whether  they 
are  right  or  wrong.  It  deals  only  with  the  present- 
day  facts.  And  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that 
these  gentlemen  fairly  represent  the  sentiment  of 
their  age  about  carefulness  in  details.  They  say 
flatly  that ' '  originality  without  literacy  cannot  in  any 
place  or  under  any  circumstances  be  considered  a 
meritorious  quality  in  a  college  course  in  English 
composition."  What  do  you  suppose  they  would 
think  about  school  themes  f 

We  have  seen  tiie  three  steps— literary  apprecia- 
tion/ spontaneity, 'accuracy.  Do  not  suppose  that 
they  are  steps  downward.  Education  in  this  country 
is  not  descending.  Do  not  suppose  that  they  show  a 
conflict  of  purpose  or  any  disagreement  as  to  what 
real  merit  is.  All  sensible  teachers  must  agree  on 
what  constitutes  a  good  theme,  do  agree  always  that 
ability  to  apprehend  literary  values  and  to  express 

*  See  the  very  interesting  article  on  '  *  Grading  Freshman  Composi- 
tion" at  the  University  of  Illinois,  in  the  English  Journal  for  Nov., 
1915. 


WHAT   KNCiLISH    IS  23 

oneself  pleasingly  are  the  only  qualities  that  make 
\\  riting  valuable.  These  steps  do  not  mark  any 
change  in  a  judgment  that  has  never  altered  since 
Irnus  invented  letters.  They  simply  show  a  pro- 
gressive realization  of  what  cannot  be  obtained  in 
school  composition.  All  professors  still  prize  and 
give  credit  for  "appreciation" ;  but  they  very  seldom 
get  it,  and  they  cannot  require  it.  All  teachers  still 
value  spontaneity,  and  we  get  quite  a  bit  of  it ;  but  we 
have  learned  that  it  is  not  a  curricular  subject,  that 
we  cannot  require  it.  What  we  can  require,  what  it  is 
dishonest  and  criminal  not  to  require,  is  accuracy. 
It  is  frightfully  wrong  to  stimulate  a  little  sponta- 
neity (!)  in  a  few  pupils  while  leaving  all  the  pupils 
so  ignorant  of  mechanics  that  their  letters  prove 
them  to  be  uneducated. 

Fifty  years  from  now  the  student  of  educational 
history  will  be  puzzled  to  know  what  we  thought  we 
were  doing  in  1916.  His  unflattering  comment  will 
run  about  like  this :  "Those  teachers  were  not  stylists 
— at  least  very  few  were.  Why  did  the  great  majority 
suppose  they  could  impart  what  they  did  not  pos- 
sess? They  must  have  seen  that  only  a  small  minority 
of  pupils  could  achieve  a  graceful  style;  what  did 
they  suppose  they  were  doing  for  the  majority!  Did 
they  even  flatter  themselves  that  the  minority's 
charm  of  style  was  due  to  instruction?  And  suppose 
this  power  to  write  pleasingly  had  been  much  more 
general,  what  was  the  prodigious  exercise  of  it  all 
about?  Did  teachers  conceive  that  they  wore  train- 
ing up  professional  authors,  or  were  they  counting 
on  private  theme  writing  as  an  enjoyment  comp; 
ble  to  amateur  painting  or  piano-playing?  It  is 
hard  to  see  the  similarity.     Were  they  aiming  at 


24  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

literary  letters?  Nothing  is  so  affected  and  unpleas- 
ant. Why,  then,  all  their  parade  of  *  perfecting  the 
work  by  degrees'?  What  did  they  think  they  were 
doing  V 

I,  for  one,  am  glad  that  I  shall  not  have  to  answer 
those  straightforward  inquiries.  English  ought  to 
be  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number.  Per- 
haps we  could  see  more  clearly  what  we  make  it  if 
we  paid  more  attention  to  that  future  historian. 

You  may  be  surprised  that  we  have  so  much  to 
say  about  composition,  for  you  know  that  themes 
are  only  one  part  of  English.  You  would  be  excus- 
able for  thinking  them  a  very  small  fraction.  Glance 
through  this  list  of  the  different  things  that  English 
is.  It  represents  graphically  the  impression  we 
might  get  from  reading  a  few  dozen  pedagogical  arti- 
cles, though  it  is  shorter  and  less  confusing  than  the 
reality  would  be.  Small  capitals  indicate  the  topics 
that  would  stand  out  more  prominently  because  of 
their  frequency  or  the  deep  feeling  with  which  they 
are  discussed : 

A  love  of  literature,  the  college  entrance 
books,  supplementary  reading,  narratives 
and  expositions,  teach  clear  thinking, 
grammar,  cooperation  with  other  depart- 
ments, magazine  reading,  imitate  Burke  or 
Homer  or  Goldsmith,  spelling,  teach  para- 
graphs by  an  analogy  with  geometry,  stim- 
ulate refined  speech,  coach  dramatics,  pros- 
ody, analyze  masterpieces,  memorizing  of 

poems,   INSPIRE   A   LOVE   FOR    CLASSICS,   DON'T 

try  to  impose  the  classics,  history  of  Eng- 
lish and  American  literature,  read  to  the 


WHAT  ENGLISH   is  26 

pupils,  teach  effectiveness  in  writing,  insist 
on  precision  in  writing,  don't  look  for  pre- 
cision, encourage  charm  and  freedom,  stim- 
ulate insight,  declamations,  oral  composi- 
tion, teach  play-writing,  choose  a  wide  va- 
riety of  reading,  develop  personality,  cul- 
tivate sound  taste  in  literature,  have  pri- 
vate conferences,  much  reading  aloud  by  the 
pupils,  argumentation,  word  analysis,  have 
pupils  correct  the  themes,  the  love  of  good 
reading,  correct  pronunciation,  don't  use 
annotations,  teach  criticism  of  the  art  of 
different  authors,  insist  on  theme  outlines, 
coach  debaters,  refuse  to  be  hampered  by 

NARROW     COLLEGE     REQUIREMENTS,     business 

English,  dictionary  work,  encourage  good 

READING. 

Perhaps  some  of  these  extra-curriculum  tasks,  like 
supervising  dramatics  or  debating  or  journalism, 
may  fall  to  your  share.  Nothing  will  be  said  in  this 
book,  however,  about  such  matters,  because  local  con- 
(1  it  ions  vary  extremely  and  because  your  own  good 
sense  can  get  little  help  from  another  man's  advice. 
They  are  largely  questions  of  your  own  talents  and 
initiative.  The  whole  mass  of  jumbled  English 
reduces  to  three  subjects,  of  which  the  first  is  how 
to  read — called  Literature.  This  is  now  the  part 
of  English  that  receives  the  largest  share  of  atten- 
tion, the  part  that  may  always  take  up  the  largest 
portion  of  time.  It  may  in  the  future,  when  elements 
of  composition  are  properly  taught  in  the  grades, 
occupy  an  even  greater  proportion  of  the  schedule 
But  to  this  subject,  in  spite  of  its  importance,  I  shall 


26  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

devote  only  one  chapter.  Handling  literature  is 
largely  a  matter  of  personality;  advice  about 
methods  is  likely  to  be  futile ;  and  the  world  is  al- 
ready full  of  good  counsel  about  what  to  aim  at.  The 
second  subject  is  how  to  speak — called  Oral  Com- 
position. I  am  as  sensitive  as  the  next  man  to  the 
horrors  of  our  slovenly  and  clumsy  vernacular,  but 
fear  that  they  are  for  the  most  part  beyond  the  reach 
of  schooling;  because  they  are  founded  in  infancy, 
are  ingrained  by  home  training,  and  are  as  deep  and 
wide  as  any  other  social  phenomenon  that  we  find 
disagreeable.  "Written  forms  can  be  taught;  they 
are  a  veneer  put  on  by  the  school.  But  when  we  get 
beyond  some  superficial  matters  of  syntax  and  pro- 
nunciation it  is  easy  to  overestimate  what  a  school 
can  achieve  in  changing  habits  of  speech.  The  prac- 
tical value  of  learning  to  compose  one 's  thoughts  for 
addressing  a  crowd  is  beyond  all  reckoning.  In- 
deed this  power  is  so  unusual  and  so  difficult  of 
attainment  that  I  fear  some  teachers  deceive  them- 
selves as  to  what  they  are  accomplishing.  Even  if 
I  had  their  faith  I  should  abstain  from  discussing 
Oral  Composition  for  the  same  reasons  that  influ- 
ence me  to  be  brief  with  Literature:  advice  cannot 
guide  very  far  in  such  a  matter  of  personality,  and 
plenty  of  advice  is  available. 

The  third  subject  is  Written  Composition.  That 
is  the  necessity  without  which  all  else  counts  for 
naught  Parents  are  glad  to  have  Thomas  know 
some  lyrics  by  heart,  are  pleased  deeply  if  he  ac- 
quires at  school  a  fondness  for  reading  Thackeray; 
but  their  gratification  turns  to  ashes  if  Thomas's 
letter  to  his  grandfather  is  barbarously  spelled  and 
punctuated.    Business  men  may  not  be  wholly  indif- 


WHAT   KXGLISH  IS  27 

■ent  to  a  knowledge  of  Sir  Launfal,  but  they  will 
not  accept  it  as  an  excuse  for  unbusinesslike  spelling 
and  punctuation.  Colleges  are  devoutly  interested 
in  having  young  people  taught  to  read,  but  will  not 
accept  any  amount  of  appreciation  in  lieu  of  some 
II  measure  of  ability  to  spell  and  punctuate. 
With  one  common  judgment  the  world  insists  on  a 
modicum  of  knowledge  about  framing  sentences. 

So  that  even  if  it  were  desirable  to  take  up  those 
higher  and  more  beautiful  departments,  there  would 
be  sufficient  reason  for  limiting  ourselves  to  decent 
writing.  There  is  another  reason  which,  though  it  is 
not  a  certainty,  has  great  weight.  In  1915  the  uni- 
form college-entrance  requirements  for  the  whole 
country  were  so  altered  that  instead  of  a  blend  of 
Literature  and  Composition  in  papers  a  and  b  we 
now  have  a  first  paper  on  Grammar  and  Composition 
and  a  second  paper  on  Literature.  This  is  a  most 
significant  cleavage.  It  formally  splits  apart  two 
subjects  that  have  always  been  inextricably  blended 
in  the  common  conception  of  English.  It  is  a  recog- 
nition of  a  difference  that  has  never  been  acknowl- 
edged before.  It  displays  one  subject  which  no  col- 
lege or  technical  school  can  disregard,  and  another 
subject  to  which  any  faculty  could  be  indifferent 
without  serious  danger — just  as  it  can  be  to  Greek  or 
I  at  in  or  to  some  history  or  music  or  painting.  Liter- 
ature is  just  like  these  things  in  being  infinitely  more 
enjoyable  to  the  human  race,  but  not  indispensable 
in  an  academic  schedule.  It  is  possible  that  it  will 
soon  be  classed  with  them  as  an  optional.  Its  status 
is  now  an  open  question.  At  present  it  had  better 
not  to  be  stressed  in  a  manual  that  deals  with  perma- 
nencies. 


28  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

In  fact  the  scope  of  this  book  is  still  further  re- 
stricted. Little  will  be  said  about  authors  as  models ; 
very  little  about  the  planning  of  a  whole  composi- 
tion; not  much  about  paragraphs.  The  following 
chapters  aim  at  decent  sentences.  If  these  seem  to 
you  a  petty  corner  of  English,  you  are  in  need  of 
enlightenment.  The  art  of  teaching  a  commonplace 
mind  how  to  construct  a  series  of  reasonably  good 
sentences  can  be  no  more  than  outlined  in  this  space. 
It  reaches  deep  into  psychology,  and  can  be  partially 
acquired  only  by  a  patient  resourcefulness  that  taxes 
a  teacher's  best  powers.  When  we  have  called  Eng- 
lish the  process  of  creating  decent  sentences,  we 
have  given  an  ample  definition,  one  that  proposes  a 
vast  field  of  endeavor.    You  shall  see. 


CHAPTER  II 

DESCENT   TO   EABTH 

A  man  who  presumes  to  offer  advice  is  more  likely 
to  succeed  if  he  addresses  someone  in  particular.  To 
have  in  mind  teachers  in  general  while  I  write  is  to 
court  failure.  I  have  chosen  to  imagine  that  "you" 
who  read  are  a  college  graduate  who  has  been  elect- 
ing a  good  deal  of  English  during  the  last  two  years. 
You  have  your  diploma  and  are  engaged  to  teach 
English  at  the  Smithboro  high  school.  During  the 
summer  you  are  rather  vaguely  wondering  whether 
you  had  better  be  doing  anything  in  particular  to 
prepare  yourself  for  the  new  work.  You  have  been 
assigned  to  freshman  English,  and  have  therefore 
been  reading  over  the  classics  you  are  to  teach 
and  have  carefully  gone  through  the  rhetoric  you 
are  to  use.  Is  there  more  to  do?  You  have  an 
uneasy  feeling  that  you  don't  know  what  is  expected 
of  you  beyond  exhibiting  some  of  that  critical 
shrewdness  and  exerting  a  literary  uplift — being  a 
center  of  sweetness  and  light.  Quite  by  chance  a 
friend  has  put  this  volume  into  your  hand. 

Of  course  "you"  are  all  sorts  of  people.  Occa- 
sionally teachers  of  five  years'  experience  know  no 
better  than  to  look  over  another  man's  ideas,  for 
they  never  can  tell  where  they  may  pick  up  useful 
hints.  But  I  shall  always  speak  as  if  to  one  who  has 
never  taught,  for  I  have  known  so  many  cases  of 
English-teachers-to-be  who  would  have  been  grate- 

29 


30  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ful  for  some  simple  guide-book.  Not  that  they  would 
follow  it  trustfully  (skepticism  is  the  only  safe  atti- 
tude toward  any  advice  of  the  kind  set  down  here), 
but  that  they  could  get  some  definite  program,  some 
platform  however  opinionated  and  distorted,  from 
which  they  could  depart.  It  is  more  useful  to  stir 
you  to  a  procedure  of  your  own  than  to  persuade  you 
to  an  easy  acquiescence.  These  chapters  are  not  to 
be  swallowed,  but  to  be  pondered. 

In  another  way  my  readers  are  very  heteroge- 
neous :  some  will  have  all  the  English  and  parts  of 
other  subjects  in  a  small  school;  others  will  have  one 
division  of  one  class  in  a  large  city  school.  One  may 
have  complete  liberty  to  follow  his  own  judgment; 
another  may  have  everything  prescribed.  But  "you" 
are  going  to  Smithboro,  where  you  will  have  a  good 
deal  of  chance  to  exercise  your  own  judgment; 
and  "you"  are  the  sort  of  person  who  wishes  to 
know  the  essentials  of  his  trade  in  all  conditions, 
so  that  he  may  be  fitted  to  do  best  in  present  cir- 
cumstances and  to  go  with  assurance  to  a  different 
position. 

The  purpose  is  to  furnish  the  general  strategy  of- 
that  long,  long  process  of  teaching  how  to  form 
good  complex  sentences.  The  tricks  of  the  trade,  the 
knowledge  of  facts  may  be  so  presented  that  a 
teacher  can  profit  by  other  people's  failures,  learn- 
ing in  a  few  hours  what  he  might  struggle  toward 
blindly  for  years — as  I  did.  This  manual  will  not 
inform  you  how  to  convey  spiritual  values.  It  is 
only  a  set  of  mechanical  aids  for  teaching  mechanics. 
Any  author  who  promises  more  is  not  likely  to  per- 
form. 

I  will  first  explain  something  that  is  true  of  every 


DESCENT  TO  EARTH  31 

college  graduate  when  he  begins  to  teach  English. 

e  has  a  feeling  that  his  knowledge  of  the  subject  is 
broad,  catholic.  He  has  come  down  from  the  stars 
upon  the  narrow  texts  and  the  ignorant  class.  Not 
that  he  is  conceited.  Far  from  it.  He  may  be  all 
humbleness,  may  feel  too  sensitively  his  shortcom- 
ings. But  after  his  senior  electives  or  graduate  spe- 
cie lizings  he  feels  that  the  little  earth  of  school  is  all 
surrounded  aid  comprehended  by  his  wideness.  This 
t('Miagjs_aJyjidrance.  If  von  can  get  rid  of  it,  you 
will  be  in  a  condition  to  get  better  resuTts  with  ele- 
mentary lessons,  because  you  will  begin  to  realize  the 
great  work  that  can  be  done.  You  will  accomplish 
much  more  than  this :  you  will  be  ready  to  see  how 
large  the  earth  really  is.  It  merely  appears  small 
at  first  to  one  who  has  been  studying  astronomically 
of  how  Shakespeare 's  genius  was  not  for  originating 
plots,  of  Chaucer's  indebtedness  to  Boccaccio.  It  i9 
actually  as  wide,  as  full  of  wonders,  demands  as  keen 
exploration,  as  the  skyey  regions  that  you  have  been 
mapping. 

One  reason  why  it  seems  restricted  is  that  you 
encounter  such  marvelous  ignorance  of  what  seems 
to  you  common  knowledge.  In  the  secondary  world 
to  be  always  takes  an  object,  discribe  is  the  form  pre- 
ferred by  pupils  who  have  read  Cicero,  Plato  is  the 
ruler  of  the  underworld,  the  art  of  Silas  Marner  is 
"where  Eppie  was  put  in  the  coal-hole.' '  It  is  al- 
most impossible  to  feel  thai  those  who  make  such 
blunders  have  minds  as  good  as  your  own.  They 
have.  That  is  the  great  truth  for  an  English  teacher 
to  koop  in  mind.  A  teacher  of  algebra  is  differently 
situated;  he  does  know  everything  and  the  pupil 
knows  nothing.    But  the  English  teacher  is  a  fellow- 


K- 


32  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

being.  He  never  can  know  a  tithe  of  what  may  be 
useful  and  is  always  in  peril  of  showing  his  igno- 
rance. Only  yesterday  I  learned  mumpsimus,  a  word 
I  have  always  needed ;  and  after  twenty-five  years  of 
zealous  consultation  of  the  dictionaries  I  pronounced 
rationale  like  a  French  word.  When  I  set  myself 
at  age  forty  to  learn  French  irregular  verbs,  I  found 
myself  hardly  getting  a  passing  mark;  a  boy  who 
was  excessively  dull  in  an  English  class  thought  I 
was  a  numskull  when  he  tried  to  teach  me  how  to 
use  a  telephone  switch-board.  When  I  pause  to  con- 
sider the  ignorance  of  pupils,  I  usually  find  it  less 
wonderful  than  my  own. 

,  Another  cause  of  that  feeling  of  restriction  ap- 
pears much  less  excusable — that  is,  the  violence  and 
persistence  of  error  that  has  been  again  and  again 
dilated  upon.  Yet  even  this  is  not  so  discreditable 
to  the  young  minds  as  you  would  suppose.  The  ex- 
planation is  usually  that  in  lower  grades  they  have 
been  allowed  to  confirm  themselves  in  wrong  habits ; 
the  wrong  forms  are  fairly  engraved  in  their  brains. 
When  you  tackle  seperate,  you  are  like  young  Thor 
who  supposed  he  was  merely  struggling  to  lift 
a  cat,  whereas  the  animal  was  the  serpent  who 
held  the  earth  together.  Seperate  is  a  tremendous 
antagonist,  who  looks  feeble  enough,  but  is  in  reality 
the  greatest  force  in  life,  evil  habit.  You  have  war- 
fare before  you;  titanic  forces  are  to  be  grappled 
with.  To  know  in  advance  what  you  must  contend 
against  is  an  advantage  beyond  exaggeration.  Nearly 
the  whole  difference  between  an  experienced  and  an 
inexperienced  teacher  is  that  the  former  has  acquired 
a  handy  code  of  these  troubles,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
anticipate  them;  and  also  a  set  of  methods  for  stamp- 


DESCENT  TO  BABTB  33 

ing  truths  upon  youthful  brains.     The  aim.  of  this 
book  is  to  supply  some  devices  of  this  sort. 

what  to  do  means  knowing  what  not  to 


mpt.  The  most  probable  mistake  ot  a  novice 
will  5e  struggling  with  choice  of  words.  All  Amer- 
icans are  deeply  sensitive  about  diction,  feeling  that 
this  and  the  other  use  of  a  word  is  " wrong.' '  Not 
in  politics  or  religion  do  men  entertain  such  violence 
of  prejudice.  "Good  English* '  always  means  in 
popular  speech  correct  choice  of  words.  There  are 
persons  who  would  rather  go  to  jail  than  say  "had 
rather";  every  printer  of  a  restaurant  menu  knows 
that  welsh  rabbit  is  a  vulgarism;  one  very  refined 
old  lady  always  substitutes  jerkin  for  the  indecent 
sweater.  There  is  no  limit  to  which  such  a  list  could 
not  be  extended.  Every  rhetoric  contains  a  choice 
assortment.  A  list  of  errors  in  diction  compiled  by 
a  university  for  the  guidance  of  teachers  contains  the 
following:  burglarize,  firstly,  retrogress,  aggravate 
for  vex,  fix  for  plight,  near-by,  to  down,  cannot  help 
but,  in  back  of,  lessen  for  diminish  in  number. 

Have  nothing  to  do  with  such  things.  For  one 
reason,  the  time  you  put  upon  them  is  badly  needed 
elsewhere ;  for  another  reason,  most  such  objections 
to  common  idioms  are  pure  ignorance,  for  every 
word  listed  above  has  good  warrant.  Firstly  is  used 
by  several  writers  in  the  Britannica,  and  lessen  is 
defined  by  the  Century  as  "contract  in  number,  di- 
minish." I  never  open  to  a  list  of  "faulty  diction" 
without  some  new  shock;  the  latest  was  to  learn  in  a 
handbook  of  business  forms  that  very  much  appre- 
ciate, beg  to  state,  and  not  a  one  are  "bad  English. M 
An  hour  spent  with  Professor  Lounsbury's  School- 
stering  the  Speech  will  prove  the  inanity  of  all 


34  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

similar. efforts  to  brand  everyday  idioms  as  " incor- 
rect. "  Every  teacher  who  reads  J.  Lesslie  Hall's 
-*  Studies  in  Usage  (Scott,  Foresman  &  Co.)  will  be 
\  saved  a  vast  amount  of  worry  over  "bad  English" 
which  is  not  bad  at  all,  which  should  never  delay  a 
theme-reader  for  an  instant.  Some  of  this  pedantic 
ignorance  is  due  to  bad  logic  (like  arguing  that  stop 
means  to  cease  motion,  and  therefore  stop  for  the  day 
is  wrong) ;  some  of  it  is  nothing  more  than  misinf  or- 
mation  that  happened  to  find  lodgment,  grew  into 
sturdy  prejudice  by  being  repeated,  and  finally 
became  an  object  of  veneration.  If  this  sounds 
presumptuous  or  bitter,  read  Dr.  Hall's  book. 

Even  if  such  "bad  English' '  were  really  much 
worse,  there  is  a  powerful  reason  for  paying  small 
attention  to  it — namely,  that  you  will  spoil  all  the 
emphasis  that  ought  to  be  reserved  for  had  of  known, 
thusly,  borrow  for  lend,  had  ought.  When  you  pro- 
test against  fix,  you  destroy  the  faith  of  pupils  in 
your  judgment  about  had  of  known.  Keep  your  pow- 
der for  the  blowing  up  of  such  gross  and  ridiculous 
things  as  had  of  known.  There  are  more  serious 
mistakes  of  policy,  but  none  so  truly  pathetic,  as 
this  of  lumping  together  monstrous  blunders  with 
reputable  colloquialisms.  The  really  bad  idioms  will 
give  enough  to  do.  Had  ought  and  couldn't  hardly 
are  lifelong  habits  and  will  not  be  eradicated  in  one 
year. 

You  have  noticed,  and  you  will  frequently  see  as 
you  read  on,  that  the  writer  has  a  tendency  to  chal- 
\  lenge  textbooks.  This  is  unfortunate,  for  no  one  is 
so  tiresome  as  the  man  who  has  no  hesitation  in 
shouting  that  all  the  world  is  mistaken.  Be  assured 
that  the  writer  has  no  sympathy  with  reckless  out- 


DESCENT  TO  EAKT1I  35 

cries  against  authority  and  will  never  on  any  ac- 
count obtrude  personal  opinions.  Every  protest 
is  backed  by  good  authority.  Acquire  the  habit  V 
of  challenging  everything  in  the  books  you  use,  not 
quarrelsomely,  hut  inquiringly.  The  more  you  do 
so,  The  more  yoU  will  be  convinced  that  because  our 
subject  is  so  new  and  has  been  dealing  so  much  with 
matters  of  taste  a  large  proportion  of  the  textbooks 
are  tainted  with  ignorance — not  only  of  facts,  but  of 
right  methods.  A  novice  who  is  not  on  his  guard 
may  be  sadly  misled. 

As  to  ignorance  of  methods,  remember  that  those 
elaborate  designs  of  assembling  a  lot  of  ideas,  writ- 
ing them  all  out  as  they  occur,  assorting  them 
roughly  in  a  first  draft,  pruning  and  extending  and 
recombining  for  a  second  draft,  polishing  and  refin- 
ing for  a  third  draft — remember  that  all  this  may 
possibly  represent  what  some  authors  have  done 
with  a  heap  of  material  to  be  condensed  into  a 
weighty  chapter,  but  that  it  also  is  what  many  au- 
thors have  never  done,  is  what  no  child  ought  to  try 
to  do.  It  is  astronomy.  You  are  now  on  earth,  where 
only  certain  things  are  true,  where  many  things  are 
worse  than  useless,  where  we  walk  instead  of  swing- 
kig  a  telescope  about. 


CHAPTER  III 


INTENSIVE   SPELLING 


Why  one  person  can  spell  and  another  can  not  is  as 
deep  and  unanalyzable  a  mystery  as  why  we  langh. 
No  acceptable  solution  has  ever  been  offered.  One 
mother  who  observed  her  four  children  from  infancy 
testifies  that  two  were  born  to  spell  and  two  were 
born  to  struggle  in  vain.  You  can  infallibly  divide 
your  class  the  first  day  of  the  year  into  spellers  and 
non-spellers.  Some  uninteresting,  narrow-minded 
people  are  spellers,  and  some  versatile  and  esthetic 
people  are  not  spellers.  Some  authors  and  critics 
cannot  spell.  But  most  of  them  can.  There  is  no 
classification  by  general  traits. 

The  case  is  comparable  to  that  of  people  who  can 
draw  and  who  can  not.  One  seems  to  notice  outlines, 
and  so  can  reproduce  them;  the  other  never  really 
sees  an  outline.  Whether  this  difference  is  as  deep 
as  an  instinct  or  as  shallow  as  an  accidental  turning 
of  interest  in  early  years  there  is  no  knowing.  But 
it  is  the  nearest  I  could  ever  come  to  a  formula  for 
attacking  a  poor  speller.  Notice  the  words ;  get  an 
interest  in  the  forms.  If  a  poor  speller  is  trying  to 
improve  himself,  that  is  the  direction  in  which  to 
steer. 

This  is  a  frail  help.  No  amount  of  urging  it  and 
pleading  for  it  will  do  much  toward  bringing  up  the 
average  of  a  class. 

All  experienced  teachers  develop  mnemonic  de- 

36 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING  37 

to  for  startling  a  child's  attention,  trying  to  make 
an  impression  so  striking  that  it  will  recur  when  next 
the  child  starts  to  write  the  wrong  form,  that  it  will 
4 '  run  out  and  bite  him. ' 9  One  teacher  tells  his  classes     / 
that  in  the  second  syllable  of  separate  they  ought  to  f 
find  their  father.    Another  plot  against  carelessness 
is  to  write  on  the  board  s-e-p,  wait  a  moment  until 
attention  is  concentrated,  then  dash  down  an  A  a 
foot  high,  then  finish  in  small  letters.    No  plan  is 
bizarre  enough  to  prevent  seperate  from  appearing         / 
on  some  theme  within  a  week.    "  De+scribo' p  written  /  * 
out  extravagantly,  with  scathing  or  burlesque  accom- 
paniment, and  repeatedly  exhibited  with  variations 
for  weeks,  will  not  kill  discribe.    A  dining-room  is 
a  dinning-room  and  a  writer  is  a  writter  to  the  end 
of  a  year  of  drill  for  some  obdurate  minds — yes,  to 
the  end  of  three  years.    This  sounds  discouraging, 
but  think  how  much  better  it  is  to  know  what  is  com- 

than  to  go  through  the  year  without  knowing 
what  you  are  to  expect. 

Several  professors  in  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try have  been  at  work  on  this  Augean  problem.  They 
have  hardly  gone  deep  enough  in  their  published 
monographs,  but  their  trend  is  unmistakable.  They 
are  discovering  that  the  trouble  is  with  a  few  words. 
It  is  a  momentous  finding.    When  the  school  world 

all  heard  of  it,  and  when  later  we  all  believe  it 
and  work  on  the  basis  of  it,  a  new  era  will  have 
daw  ned  in  secondary  English.  How  far  we  are  still 
in  darkness  may  be  judged  from  a  paragraph  in 
Cook  and  0 'Shea's  The  Child  and  His  Spelling, 
1914:  "How  many  words  should  a  child  be  able  to 
spell  when  he  finishes  the  eighth  grade!  Estimates 
made  by  various  teachers  and  administrators  and 


38  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

professors  ran  all  the  way  from  five  hundred  to  fif- 
teen thousand.  A  rough  estimate  of  the  number  of 
words  presented  to  the  typical  pupil  of  a  first-class 
elementary  school  gives  from  eight  thousand  to  ten 
thousand.  The  average  elementary  speller  contains 
upwards  of  six  thousand  words."  This,  mind  you, 
is  in  the  grades !  The  conclusion  of  the  investigators 
is  that  their  lists  of  763  are  a  minimum  for  the  lower 
grades,  and  that  an  additional  2200  should  be  studied 
in  the  upper  grades.  This  advice  seems  to  me  fear- 
fully beyond  the  truth,  for  it  means  that  children  are 
to  learn  such  words  as  legislature,  minimum,  and 
opportune. 

One  investigator  who  anticipated  them  by  a  year 
reached  a  much  lower  minimum.  In  Concrete  Inves- 
tigation of  the  Material  of  English  Spelling^  by  Pro- 
fessor Jones,  of  the  University  of  South  Dakota,  are 
tabulated  the  misspellings  in  15,000,000  words  of 
theme-writing  done  by  pupils  in  the  grades  in  four 
states.  Here  are  some  quotations  from  his  com- 
ments on  the  data. 

1.  Indeed  the  very  words  that  give  most  trouble 
\    in  spelling  are  almost  invariably  found  in  the  second 
\  or  third  grade  lists,  and  faithfully  reappear  through- 
out the  subsequent  years.     Over  nine-tenths  of  all 
words  misspelled  by  the  1050  grade  students  are 
found  in  these  two  lists. 

2.  From  the  standpoint  of  usefulness  this  second- 
grade  list  is  worth  many  times  as  much  as  all  the 
other  lists  combined. 

3.  Since  these  troublesome  but  useful  words  are 
not  pointed  out  and  effectively  dealt  with  in  these 
early  grades,  our  handling  of  the  most  dangerous 
spelling  material  is  not  efficient,  and  students  go  on 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING  39 

misspelling,  year  after  year,  words  that  should  be 
mastered  in  the  early  school  years. 

4.  Since  grade  students  commonly  use  from  500 
to  2500  words  in  writing,  yet  on  the  average  mis- 
spell but  about  fifty  words,  not  one  child  out  of  a 
thousand  misspelling  as  many  as  one  hundred  words, 
our  spelling  problem  is  not  so  gigantic  as  it  is  com- 
monly believed  to  be,  for  the  reason  that  a  handful  of 
words  misspelled  over  and  over  by  each  student  has 
misled  us  in  our  judgment. 

5.  The  twenty  -  words  -  a  -  day  lesson  should  dis- 
appear. 

It  is  instructive  to  see  how  this  staid  scientific 
report  waxes  emotional  when  it  discusses  the  mis- 
spellings of  simple  and  commonplace  words.  Mr. 
Jones  presents  a  list  of  "One  Hundred  Spelling 
Demons  of  the  English  Language.' ■  Surely  this  is 
an  authentic  demonology  and  is  worth  presenting. 


i/ 


("Order  not  significant  after  first  four,"  says  Mr.    ^ 
Jon< 


which 

used 

lose 

ready 

their 

always 

Wednesday 

forty 

■ 

where 

country 

hour 

separate 

women 

February 

trouble 

don't 

done 

know 

among 

meant 

hear  . 

could 

busy 

husiness 

here 

seems 

guess 

many 

writo 

Tuesday 

says 

friend 

writing 

wear 

having 

some 

can't 

answer 

just 

been 

sure 

two 

doctor 

since 

loose 

too 

wfaethei 

40 


WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 


believe 

coming 

cough 

would 

knew 

early 

piece 

built 

laid 

they 

raise 

color 

tear 

half 

ache 

making 

choose 

break 

read 

dear 

tired 

buy 

said 

instead 

grammar 

again 

hoarse 

easy 

minute 

very 

shoes 

through 

any 

none 

tonight 

every 

much 

week 

wrote 

enough 

beginning 

often 

heard 

truly 

blue 

whole 

does 

sugar 

though 

won't 

once 

straight 

I  know  nothing  about  spelling  in  the  grades,  nor 
how  many  words  ought  to  be  taught.  But  it  is  a  fact 
that  most  pupils  are  advanced  to  the  high  school 
without  knowing  the  " demons,' '  that  somehow  the 
grade  teachers  in  their  efforts  to  teach  five  thousand 
have  not  taught  their  and  meant,  that  these  wrong 
habits  have  become  fixed  almost  ineradicably,  that 
most  secondary  spelling  consists  in  trying  to  over- 
turn the  vicious  misspellings  of  a  few  hundred  com- 
mon words.  This  is  so  important  that  it  must  be 
explained  rather  fully. 

The  best  introduction  is  a  pair  of  quotations,  the 
first  from  a  learned  treatise  on  spelling:  "We  do  not 
yet  know  with  any  show  of  accuracy  which  of  these 
one,  two,  or  three  thousand  words  are  persistent 
sources  of  error  among  large  numbers  of  people.' ' 
The  other  quotation  is  the  words  of  a  mere  high- 
school  teacher:  "It  has  been  the  privilege  of  the 
writer  to  follow  one  pupil  through  the  four  years' 
course  of  English  with  the  one  word  benefiting,  only 


INTBN8IVE  SPELLING  41 

to  be  compelled  to  explain  the  derivation  and  the 
rule  for  doubling  ten  times  to  the  same  individual 
during  the  fourth  year." 

Every  secondary  teacher  does  know  which  words 
are  persistent  sources  of  error.  If  you  should  con- 
front a  grade  teacher,  a  high-school  teacher,  and  a 
professor  of  rhetoric  with  the  forms  stoped,  wierd, 
aii'l  final  if,  you  would  get  from  each  the  same  weary 
smile  of  recognition ;  each  one  knows  that  from  kin- 
dergarten to  fiftieth  reunion,  from  Maine  to  Califor- 
nia, from  grocer's  boy  to  successful  novelist,  it  is  the 
same  three  hundred  deadly  words  that  betray  illit- 
eracy. A  college  graduate  who  can't  spell  idiosyn- 
y  is  excusable.  College  examiners  needn't  worry 
if  a  candidate  for  admission  writes  maintainance — 
provide*  1  lie  never  writes  such  forms  as  noticable 
or  occassmn. 

Cea_8jL_tft  worry  about-  tlia  th™*  fhnna«Tui ;  nifVgj* 

bloodthirsty   nitnnV   nn   ih*  thro*  ftfln^rWl 

1  was  fifteen  years  in  discovering  that  most  of  my 
spelling  troubles  were  confined  to  a  few  hundred 
very  common  words  and  a  few  dozen  type-forms. 
All  that  time  I  faithfully  dictated  the  thousands — 
sc/ftJir,  knead,  porcelain,  etc.  During  the  first  five 
years  I  was  quite  unconscious  that  I  wasn't  getting 
anywhere ;  during  the  next  five  I  slowly  learned  that 
seme  forms  like  seperate  and  discribe  were  deathless 
hydras ;  during  the  last  five  I  discovered  that  it  was 
infinitely  harder  to  get  rid  of  dissapoint  and  definate 
(and  infinitely  more  useful)  than  to  teach  a  hundred 
forms  like  musician  and  engineer.  Why  more  use- 
ful.' Because  tin  w//^  -  are  used  a  hundred  times 
as  often.  Whylnore  difficult?  Because  as  spelling 
is~aT~present  organized  a  heedless  pupil  may  slip 


42  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

through  the  grades  writing  these  common  words 
wrong  year  after  year.  A  firm,  an  all  but  unbreak- 
able habit  is  formed,  which  may,  in  some  cases,  defy 
the  most  strenuous  attack  in  the  high  school. 

The  day  will  come  when  every  grade  teacher  will 
be  supplied  by  his  principal  with  an  authorized  list 
of  Words  That  Must  Be  Started  Right.  It  is  crimi- 
nal to  spend  time  on  banana  or  crystal  until  too 
and  their  are  habitually  spelled  correctly  when  the 
writer's  attention  is  on  a  composition.  They  must 
be  paraded  on  the  blackboard,  dilated  upon,  written 
;  and  sounded  with  exaggerated  emphasis,  dictated, 
1  returned  to  and  returned  to.  But  even  then  the  work 
is  only  begun;  until  the  knowledge  is  habitually 
applied  when  the  main  attention  is  elsewhere  the 
spelling  lessons  are  vain. 

This  last  yearTlfave  been  observing  a  class  of 
average  boys  preparing  to  take  final  entrance  exam- 
inations for  college,  all  of  whom  had  studied  Latin 
for  four  years,  had  passed  paper  a,  and  nearly  all 
of  whom  had  been  strictly  drilled  in  spelling  and 
punctuation  for  from  four  to  six  years.  Their  most 
frequent  error  was  writing  to  for  too.  Not,  mind 
you,  that  the  second  o  was  carelessly  omitted;  the 
nature  of  the  error  was  usually  misspelling.  There 
for  their  occurred  with  enough  frequency  to  drive  a 
teacher  insane.  Replys  persisted  to  the  end  of  the 
year,  and  one  boy,  who  had  been  under  my  care  for 
six  years,  wrote  planing  for  planning  on  his  college 
paper.  His  was  an  obdurate  mind;  but  if  for  six 
years  before  he  came  to  me  he  had  been  allowed  to 
exercise  the  bad  habit,  he  was  not  entirely  to  blame 
for  not  overcoming  it  in  the  next  six. 
One  more  exhibit  may  do  good.    It  is  a  list  of  the 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING  43 

misspellings  in  a  spelling  test  made  by  a  class  of 
seventeen,  corresponding  to  the  second  year  of  high 
school,  near  the  end  of  the  school  year.  All  of  the 
class  had  had  unremitted  violent  instruction  in  the 
few  hundred  common  forms — five  of  them  for  one 
year,  seven  for  two  years,  and  ^ve  for  three  years. 
The  one-year  boys  did  not  contribute  all  the  errors — 
nor  did  the  three-year  boys  fail  to  contribute. 

faskes 

once    Jwritting  twice    fwierd 

]  beleive  \  childrens  ■ 

[dispair 

{@>  Ws  {thmshes'3 


three 
times 


This  difficulty  of  rooting  out  an  old  habit,  of  fixing 
a  new  one  in  its  place,  of  insuring  the  operation  of 
the  new  habit  when  the  mind  is  busy  expressing 
ideas,  is  quite  beyond  the  comprehension  of  any  pro- 
fessor or  critical  parent.  It  passes  the  understand- 
ing of  the  teacher  himself.  Although  at  present  I 
regard  myself  as  a  spelling  fiend,  still  I  am  sure  that 
a  decade  hence  I  shall  look  back  upon  my  present 
self  as  mildly  unconscious  of  the  forces  against 
which  I  struggle. 

The  essence  of  these  forces  is  always  confusion. 
Some  psychologist  of  the  future  may  formulate  the 
mental  mix-ups;  at  present  we  guess  and  grope.  But 
our  minds  must  be  cleared  of  the  idea  that  we  deal 
with  mere  heedlessness.  Consider  shepherd.  Every 
boy  and  girl  is  confronted  throughout  his  life  with 


44  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

such  spellings  of  the  proper  name  as  Shephard, 
Shepard,  until  his  mental  picture  is  a  blurred  and  in- 
extricable composite.  Ashes,  fourty,  villiage,  dis- 
pair,  shure,  controle,  flew,  etc.,  are  easily  referable 
to  parallel  correct  forms ;  minuite  may  be  due  to  bis- 
cuit. Oral  confusions  only  partially  account  for 
such  mistakes  as  probally,  atheletics,  supprise, 
enimy.  Of  a  different  sort  and  more  complicated 
are  errors  in  using  suffixes.  It  is  quite  impossible 
for  the  trained  mind  to  realize  the  alertness  neces- 
sary in  an  immature  mind,  during  the  rush  of  a 
written  test,  if  the  knowledge  of  altering  final  letters 
is  to  be  properly  applied.  For  example,  the  teacher 
finds  enjoies,  is  inflamed  with  wrath,  wonders  if  the 
pupil  has  any  mentality;  inquires  the  next  day  in 
class  about  replies  and  employs,  and  finds  that  the 
understanding  of  the  principle  is  perfectly  clear; 
confronts  the  pupil  with  his  idiotic  enjoies  and  sav- 
agely demands  whether  his  brain  is  larger  than  a 
pea ;  the  modest  answer  is, '  'I  got  mixed  up. ' '  Bright 
boys,  whose  accuracy  in  a  spelling  test  is  invincible, 
will  in  themes  write  ladieys,  dinning  room,  does' nt, 
and  be  just  as  puzzled  as  the  teacher  when  the  errors 
are  disclosed.  The  old  ignorance  is  always  slipping 
in  to  confound  the  recently  established  knowledge. 
In  some  form  or  other  misspelling  is  confusion. 

Therefore  the  first  object  of  intensive  spelling  is 
to  establish  order.  "This  is  invariably  done"; 
"such  a  form  does  not  exist";  "when  must  you 
always  double V9  "Henrys  ought  to  look  as  strange 
to  you  as  snow  in  July";  "there  are  only  three  pre- 
terits in  aid99;  "only  ex,' pro,  and  sub  take  ceed'9 — 
and  so  on  eternally,  the  old  "alwayses"  and 
"nevers"  being  unremittingly  presented  until  they 


IXTKNSIVH  SI'KLLING  45 

are  deeply  planted  in  careless  minds,  take  root,  and 
crowd  out  the  confusions.  / 

It  is  the  opposite  of  this  plan,  it  is  creating  con-) 
fusion,  to  present  there  and  their  together,  or  seize 
and  siege,  or  all  right  and  already.  When  you  dis- 
play as  a  group  of  freaks  seize,  weird,  either,  empha- 
size them  as  three  of  a  kind,  repeat  them  and  ex- 
patiate upon  them,  then  you  make  one  clean-cut  im- 
pression ;  for  a  few  in  the  class  that  one  presentation 
is  indelible.  If  you  then  say  anything  about  siege, 
you  smudge  the  mental  diagram ;  for  some  in  the  class 
you  may  have  created  permanent  confusion.  If  all 
right  gets  fervid  comment  in  a  recitation  (never  is 
that  wrong  form  to  be  exhibited),  then  there  must 
be  nothing  said  that  day  about  already;  for  that 
would  be  to  construct  disorder. 

Examine  your  own  processes,  if  you  have  any 
memories  of  that  remote  period  when  you  had  any 
slight  troubles  with  spelling.  Suppose  you  were  in 
doubt  about  cemetary.  Did  it  help  you  to  pair  it 
with  secreteryf  Was  it  your  custom  to  put  dis- 
similar words  together  and  say,  "Now,  I  will  remem- 
ber that  the  first  is  different  from  the  second" T 
Suppose  that  when  you  were  a  bit  flustered  before 
a  (lass  you  had  to  declare  the  proper  spelling  of  a 
word,  would  you  wish  menial  pictures  like  these f 

incompat[  a  Jble  emba  \  rrjass 

mcontest  ^  a  Jble  ha  \  rrjass 

Most  of  us  have  to  pal  the  similar  forms  together. 
Once  we  have  learned  "stationery  is  not  used  in  a 


/ 


46  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

cemetery, ' '  no  embarrassment  can  make  ns  err  with 
either  word.  By  some  mnemonic  device  we  fix  the 
impression  of  two  r's  in  embarrass;  by  another  de- 
vice, in  another  brain-cell,  we  fix  one  r  in  harass;  if 
we  pair  them,  we  are  lost. 

The  author  can  cite  a  striking  proof  from  his  own 
recent  experience.  A  spelling  test  of  twenty  choice 
words  that  have  been  bowling  over  all  the  peda- 
gogues was  dictated  to  him.    One  is  caterpilll       >r. 

Even  the  disciplined  teacher's  mind  was  confused; 
for  it  had  seen  both  forms  frequently,  had  pre- 
viously looked  up  the  word,  had  thought  of  the  two 
together  (one  as  old,  one  as  new) ;  now,  in  the  test, 
it  hesitated,  was  confused,  was  lost.  If  that 
mind  had  grouped  similar  forms,  had  once  said 
caterpillar  is  like  pillar,  it  would  have  acquired 
knowledge. 

The  whole  system  of  intensive  spelling  is  to  build 
groups  of  words  that  corroborate  each  other. 
Almost,  already,  always,  altogether  belong  together, 
help  each  other.  All  right  must  be  kept  as  far  apart 
as  possible  in  time  and  thought.  ' '  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  an  adjective  in  us"  we  must  insist,  "no 
such  thing  as  an  adjective  in  full";  later  we  may 
casually  mention  bogus  and  citrus,  or  comment  on 
crop-full.  "Speeches  every  week"  will  teach  the 
spelling  of  two  words;  "he  speaks  in  a  weak  voice" 
will,  later,  teach  two  others.  But  "he  speaks  a 
speech"  may  unteach  spelling  for  life.  Lose,  move, 
and  prove;  laid,  paid,  said;  exceed,  proceed,  succeed; 
divide  and  divine;  he  hadn't  a  particle  of  principle; 
the  principal  man  was  a  practical  man;  ninth,  truly, 
argument;  decision  and  occasion — all  such  group- 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING  47 

-    help    to    build    up    an    assured  and    lasting 
knowledge. 

There  is  no  other  clue  to  the  labyrinth  of  ie  and  v 
"Always  expect  it  to  be  ie  unless  you  know 
d<  finitely  to  the  contrary."    Learn  the  four  cases! 
in  which  it  is  ei:  (1)  when  the  sound  is  that  of  long! 
a  or  long  i;  (2)  when  the  sound  is  short  i  or  short  ej 
cept  mischief,  kerchief,  friend,  and  sieve);  (3Y 
After  c  (except  financier);  (4)  in  six  freaks:  seize\ 
ucird,  leisure,  either,  neither,  inveigle.    For  practi-t 
ea]  purposes  the  two  great  points  to  emphasize  are: 
(I)  always  write  ie  for  the  long  e  sound — piece,  be- 
lieve, fierce,  siege,  etc. — except  seize,  weird,  and 
neither;  (II)  always  ei  after  c. 

The  whole  matter  can  be  remembered  by  the  fol- 
lowing jangles,  the  plan  of  which  is  to  suggest  the 
rules  in  the  first  lines  and  the  exceptions  in  the  next 

two: 

v 

1.  I  before  e  when  sound  is  long  e 

Seize,  inveigle,  either 
"Weird,  leisure,  neither 

2.  Ei  after  c  or  when  sound  is  not  e 

Financier,  fiery,  and  mischief 
Friend,  sieve,  view,  and  kerchief 

This  looks  complicated  to  you;  much  more  will  it 
to  your  pupils.  But  so  far  as  I  know,  it  is  the  only 
rule  given  under  heaven  among  men.|  If  you  ap- 
proach it  one  step  at  a  time,  getting  yourself  and  the 
M  gradually  familiar  with  it,  it  will  finally  sorin 
almost  as  simple  as  " Thirty  days  hath  September." 
Should  you  not  wish  to  use  it,  you  can  at  least  do 
valuable  work  (and  tho  important  part)  by  empha- 
sizing the  two  points  suggested  abow. 


48  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

I  will  add  a  paragraph  about  some  exceptions ;  not 
because  it  is  very  useful  and  certainly  not  because 
your  classes  will  ever  need  it,  but  so  as  to  give  assur- 
ance against  embarrassment  if  a  pupil  should  sud- 
denly spring  one  of  the  forms.  There  are  no  excep- 
'  tions  to  long  a;  use  for  illustration  sleigh,  freight, 
rein,  vein,  feint,  their,  heir.  The  only  real  exception 
to  long  i  is  fiery,  for  such  forms  as  lie,  vie,  tries  do 
not  give  trouble  on  this  score,  are  not  entered  for 
discussion;  use  for  illustration  height,  sleight,  stein, 
meister singer,  seismograph,  kaleidoscope,  eider- 
down, heigh-ho.  Words  in  short  i  are  foreign,  sover- 
eign, surfeit,  counterfeit;  the  only  exceptions  I  know 
are  mischief,  kerchief,  and  sieve.  "Short  e"  is  put 
in  above  simply  for  completeness;  the  only  one  I 
have  noted  is  heifer  (though  often  leisure) ;  the  only 
exception  is  friend.  One  speller  makes  a  point  of 
glacier  as  an  exception  to  the  c  rule,  another  is  wor- 
ried about  ancient,  and  we  might  add  species;  but 
these,  on  account  of  their  sh  sound,  give  no  trouble, 
do  not  belong  in  this  class.  There  are  a  number  of 
exceptions  to  long  e,  but  none  that  are  likely  to  occur 
on  themes;  plebeian  is  a  possibility;  seignorage  is 
an  impossibility;  Scotch  forms  like  weir  and  teind 
are  not  in  court;  nor  archaisms  like  teil;  sheik  and 
obeisance  have  a  common  pronunciation  in  long  a. 
Lieu  is  like  view. 

The  first  draft  of  this  solution  of  ie  and  ei  was 
printed  in  the  New  York  Times  in  1897,  has  been 
constantly  checked  up  since,  and  may  be  trusted; 
though  there  is  not  the  least  doubt  that  shortly  after 
this  book  is  published  I  shall  wish  I  had  slipped  in 
one  more  comment  or  exception.  Remember:  All 
these  ins  and  outs  are  not  vour  business,  but  your 


INTENS1VK  SPELLING  49 

stock  of  reserve  knowledge;  all  that  count-  much  is 
"the  two  great  points. ' \ 

Your  business  is  always  to  determine  what  errox 
common  and  to  dm  ly  at  that.     A  few 

common  names  m  your  locality  may  be  necessary, 
or  a  few  names  that  are  being  frequently  written 
because  they  occur  in  the  books  you  study.  I  have 
heard  of  a  teacher  who  always  dictated  for  the  last 
word  of  a  spelling  test  the  Indian  name  of  the  school 
in  which  he  taught;  it  was  known  that  the  name 
would  always  be  given,  yet  it  was  seldom  that  the 
whole  class  could  wrrite  it  correctly.  A  wise  teacher 
(whose  chief  interest  is  in  literature)  says  that  he 
finds  it  good  economy  to  spend  ten  minutes  in  getting 
on  the  board  by  slow  degrees,  with  facetious  com- 
ment, with  repetitions  and  variations,  the  name 
Macaulay. 

It  is  not  a  matter  of  commonness,  but  of  what  you 
find  commonly  misspelled.  For  example,  in  the  Eng- 
lish Journal  for  June,  1916,  two  teachers  in  two  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  schools  testify  that  some  of  Mr. 
Jones's  demons  do  not  trouble  them.  But  in  gen- 
eral it  is  the  same  old  list  that  is  needed  every- 
where. There  is  striking  proof  from  preparatory 
schools  that  careful  teachers  working  quite  inde- 
pendently will  reach  very  similar  results  as  to 
demons.  It  may  be  well  to  print  one  list,  which  was 
irot  up  on  this  basis:  Have  we  encountered  a  mis- 
spelling so  often  that  it  can  be  fairly  called  a  demon? 
In  case  of  doubt  a  word  was  excluded.  A  few  of  the 
forms  were  included  more  as  illustrations  of  a  type 
than  as  demonic  in  themselves — like  emphatically 
and  /.9.    A  few  were  due  to  local  conditions — 

sucl  leB&dtragedy.    Hut  you  can  certainly 


50 


WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 


count  that  nine-tenths  will  trouble  you  in  your  first 
month.  ' '  Second-grade  words ' '  is  used  as  a  title  for 
the  first  list  simply  because  it  is  less  sarcastic  than 
' '  for  the  little  ones. ' '  All  but  six  actually  are  in  Mr. 
Jones's  second-grade  list, 
only  "not  quite  so  childish. 


"  Fifth-grade' ' 


means 


SECOND-GRADE  WORDS 


It  is  too  big 

J rough 
1  enough 

Their  house 

I  know  the  lesson 

which 

He  knew  it 

straight 

He  threw  the  ball 

across 

The  ball  was  thrown 

among 

He  meant  to  do  right 

every 

'  He  shows  good  sense 

before 

He  asks  questions 

once 

He  turns  the  crank 

He  speaks  in  a  weak  voice 

crowd 

Tired  after  working 

some 

We  got  off  the  road 

piece 

He  ought  to  have  told  us 

believe 

We  told  him 

friend 

Stay  there 

since 

A  new  rule 

stretch 

Go  through  the  woods 

a  rough  road 

They  are  almost  here 

toward  the  house 

It  is  already  five  o  'clock 

It  is  quite  cold 

He  always  comes 

The  guide  led  us 

Although  I  don't  want  to 

No  one  except  him 

Wait  until  six 

I  am  sure  it  is  sugar 

Speeches  every  week 

Did  you  lose  the  money? 

INTENSIVE  SPELLING 


51 


FIFTH -GRADE  WORDS 

perhaps  probably  sentence  surprise 

1 
E  dropped  before  ing 
writing  coming  dining  hoping 

Oana  ing  and  shoeing  are  peculiar  forms 


stop 

stopped 

stopping 

drag 

dragged 

dragging 

hop 

hopped 

hopping 

slam 

slammed 

slamming . 

sin 

sinned 

sinning 

strip 

stripped 

stripping 

plan 

planned 

planning 

begin 

beginning  J 

occur 

occurred 

occurring 

compel 

compelled 

compelling 

refer 

referred 

referring 

prefer 

preferred 

preferring  * 

omit 

omitted 

omitting 

control 

controlled 

controlling 

roll 

rolled 

rolling 

write 

written 

writing 

dine 

dined 

dining-room 

suffer 

suffered 

suffering 

offer 

offered 

offering 

travel 

traveled 

traveling- 

develop 

developed 

develop  ing 

open 

opened 

opening 

52                         WHAT  IS  ENGLISH! 

3 

try                  trying                  tries 
tie                   tying                   ties 
lie                   lying                    lies 

tried 

tied 

lay 

It  lay  there  yesterday 

It  has  lain  there  many  days 

study             studying             studies 
hurry              hurrying             hurries 

studied 
hurried 

Verbs  in  ay — three  peculiar  forms 

lay  laid  lays 

pay  paid  pays 

say  said  says 

All  other  ay  verbs  are  regular 

stay  stayed  stays 

play  played  plays 

delay  delayed  delays 


Consonant  before  y 

lady 

story 

family 

ladies 

stories 

families 

Vowel  before  y 

alley 
monkey 

alleys 
monkeys 

journey 

boy 

play 

journeys 

boys 

plays 

INTKNSIVK  Sl'KLLING  53 


easy 

easier                  easily- 

happy 

happier               happiness 

heavy 

heavier               heavily 

lucky 

luckier                  luckily 

busy 

business               busily 

Adjecti\ 

7 
res  like  these  end  in  ful 

awful 

painful 

useful 

fearful 

hopeful 

successful 

8 
Adjectives  like  these  end  in  ous 

famous 

ingenious 

generous 

cautious 

precious 

delicious 

conscious 

religious 

victorious 

curious 

jealous. 

suspicious 

furious 

mysterious 

various 

bogu*  is  a  peculiar  form 

dis  +  agree  =  disagree^ 
dis  +  appear  =  disappear 
.lis  +  appoint    disappoint* 
dis  +  satisfied  =  dissatisfied 


54  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

mis  +  spell = misspell 

re  +  commend  =  recommend  *> 

re  -f  collect  =  recollect 

accommodate    £  } 

committee 

mean  +  ness  =  meanness 

drunken  +  ness  =  drunkenness 

sullen  +  ness  =  sullenness 

10 
No  hyphens 

together  nevertheless 

altogether  nowhere 

without  apiece 

whatever  inside 

wherever  outside 

11 

generally 
really 
naturally 
finally 
^usually 
accidentally 
especially 

4e*mairy=m  a  formal  way 
formerly = in  former  times 
practically 
artistically 
frantically 
enthusiastically 
grammatically 
sarcastically 
emphatically  ^ 

Publicly  is  a  peculiar  form 


INTENSIVE  sn«:  LLING 

12 
Two  sep  a  rate  words 

all  right  in  spite 

at  last  in  fact 

13 

Trouble  with  o 

forty 

prisoner 

porch 

lose 

move 

prove 


55 


14 
trouble  with  u 


minute 


pursuit 

accustomed* 

guard 


^jj 


four 

fourteen 

though 

thorough 

tmuble 


15 
Trouble  with  ou 


x 


of  course  not 
the  ship's  course 
prom  I 
cloud 

loU«l 

double 


56 


WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 


16 

Trouble  with  a 

separate 

any 

separation 

many 

preparation 

again 

secretary 

furnace 

grammar 

a  stationary  engine 

pleasant 

coarse  cloth 

descendant 

rainy  weather 

It  doesn't  affect  me 

17 

Trouble  with  e 

describe 

pretty 

description 

repetition 

biggest 

benefit 

greatest 

whether  to  go  or  not 

enemy- 

buying  stationery 

destroy 

a  good  effect 

despair 

a  quiet  Sunday 

18 

Trouble  with  i 

definite 

intelligent 

divide 

originally 

divine 

delicate 

privilege 

medicine 

view 

disturb 

similar 

1NTBN8IVB  SPELLING  57 

19 

Possessives 

a  lady's  hat  the  ladies'  hats 

a  fox's  tail  the  foxes'  tails 

Mr.  Jones's  house  the  Joneses'  property 

the  men's  hats 

the  children's  toys 

its 

yours 

hers 

theirs 

whose 

One  another's  burdens 
Each  other's  arms 
Any  one 's  cap 

20 
An  apostrophe  shows  that  letters  have  been  left  out 

ha  ve  +  not  =  haven 't 
( 1  id  +  not  =  didn't 
a  re  +  not  =  aren't 
w  as  +  not  =  wasn't 
should*  not  =  should  n't 
does  +  not  =  doesn't 
we + wills  well 
they  +  are  =  they  're 
it  +  i8  =  it's 
you  +  have  =  you  \« 
where  •  if    w here's 


58  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

21 

a  participle 

an  article 

a  principle 

a  practical  man 

the  principal  thing 

22 

Pronounce  brilliant  ruffian;  a  comes  before  i  in  the 
following  : 

certain 
captain 
villain 

23 

decision  }  omission      }  ,  ,       , 

fone  s  =  z  .    .        two  s's  =  sh 

occasion  J  permission  J 

Possessive  is  a  peculiar  form 

24 

Queerly  pronounced 

Wednesday  carriage 

beautiful  answer 

knowledge  solemn 

marriage  necessary 

one  woman  three  women 

Ought  not  to  be  queerly  pronounced 

government  particularly 

arctic  Saturday 

February  quarter 

obstinate  corner 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING 

25 

No  extra  letters 

athletics 

translation 

possibly 

library 

translate 

apologies 
apologize 

26 

Single  letters 

around 

amount 

arouse 
imitate 

image 
imagine 

59 


27 


E  before  a  suffix  that  begins  with  a  consonant 


nineteen 

affectionately 

ninety 

immediately 

surely 

entirely 

safety 

<  xtremely 

arrangement 

•  Infinitely 

rely 

immensely 

Ninth,  truly,  argument  are  peculiar  forms 

Drop  e  before  a  suffix  that  begins  with  a  vowel 

Lovable 

immovable 
desirable 


60  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Pronounce  cable    gable    elegance 

Notice  the  e's  in  the  following: 

noticeable  changeable 

unmanageable  peaceable 

vengeance 

E  is  kept  in  order  to  preserve  the  sound  of  c  and  g 
Judgment  is  a  peculiar  form 

28 
Double  letters 

supplies  address 

approach  arrive 

29 
Some  of  the  more  common  nouns  in  el 

angel  tunnel 

nickel  shovel 

channel  level 

30 
Words  that  end  in  d  or  nd  have  on 

loud  found       frfw^ 

cloud  ground 

proud  sound  ? 

But  "put  the  w  in  crowd" 

31 

critic  opinion 

criticize  fascinate 

criticism 


INTENSIVK  SPELLING  61 

32 


prophet 
a  prophecy 
two  prophecies 

33 

to  prophesy 
ho  prophesies 

Five  Wonderful  Words: 

goddess 

shepherd 

nymph 

comedy 
tragedy 

In  two  ways  you  will  see  that  the  list  seems  not  to 
carry  out  what  was  said  earlier.  First,  there  appear 
to  be  some  linkings  of  forms  that  are  confused — like 
brilliant  and  certain,  formerly  and  formally.  This 
is  partly  for  convenience  in  printing  and  partly  with 
the  hope  that  brilliant  will  make  villian  ridiculous 
I  whereas  already  has  no  power  to  make  alright 
ridiculous,  but  only  to  make  it  seem  natural).  Sec- 
ond, the  list  is  unemphatic.  This  is  because  it  is  a 
mere  record  of  what  pupils  already  know.  Every 
form  has  had  its  day  or  its  year  on  the  blackboard 
for  special  exposition.  A  noteworthy  case  is  the  six 
possessive  forms,  which  represent  a  gory  field  of 
battle.  Fox's  will  slaughter  many  a  boy  who  can 
spell  hallucination  without  a  quiver;  Joneses'  is 
almost  as  deadly  as  a  big  howitzer.  Those  six  forms 
are  a  whole  campaign  in  themselves.  Insist  that  one 
simple  thing  must  be  done  for  the  singular— add  's. 
Why  this  is  so  difficult  heaven  only  knows,  but 
Burns's  and  Jones's  are  almost  unattainable  by 
some.  Though  many  writers  dislike  the  cacophony  of 
Williams's  and  only  a  minority  of  speakers  will  say 


62  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Howells's  novels,  it  is  certain  that  modern  usage  pre- 
fers to  print  the  added  s  in  all  cases  except  for  the 
name  Jesus  and  a  few  combinations  of  sake  {good- 
ness9 sake).  When  pupils  inquire,  "But  isn't  Mr. 
Jones'  house  correct 1"  answer  that  it  is  easier  and 
safer  to  follow  the  invariable  rule;  for  that  is  the 
fact  in  school  work.  But  you  need  not  insist  that 
anyone  should  violate  his  sensibility.  Insist  on  two 
simple  steps  for  the  plural  possessive.  The  first  is 
* '  Get  your  plural. 9  9  They  will  flinch  and  shy  and  be 
astoundingly  timorous.  But  gradually  they  will  gain 
courage  to  write  Charleses.  Then,  second  step,  put 
the  apostrophe  after  the  s,  except  in  a  few  cases 
where  the  plural  does  not  end  in  s — such  as  oxen  and 
mice. 

For  five  years  the  school  that  prepared  this  list 
has  used  only  the  four  hundred  forms.  It  is  an 
astonishing  method.  Ten  years  ago  I  should  have 
called  the  man  who  proposed  it  just  what  you  or 
your  principal  or  your  advisory  friend  will  call  him 
— a  crank.  It  sounds  preposterous,  but  is  purely  the 
result  of  experience  and  cannot  be  discredited  except 
by  somebody  else  's  conscientious  trial  for  five  years. 
Month  after  month  and  year  after  year  the  pupils 
are  put  through  the  same  familiar  pages.  Spellers 
have  been  abandoned.  All  spelling  time  is  devoted 
to  trying  to  fix  common  forms  ineradicably.  Even 
in  this  the  failure  is  woeful.  Of 'course  it  is.  Im- 
provement in  spelling  can  be  achieved  only  in  pro- 
portion to  the  cube-root  of  the  effort  expended.  At 
the  end  of  the  year  only  ten  out  of  the  twenty-five 
boys  in  the  second-year  class  can  spell  all  the  words 
in  the  pamphlet.  Nevertheless  they  are  a  better 
trained  crowd  than  was  produced  by  the  old  method. 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING  63 

The  most  hopeless  spellers  miss  only  10  per  cent  of 
the  words.  After  several  reviews  a  test  of  thirty- 
fur  words  is  marked  zero  for  two  errors. 

It  is  understood  in  the  grading  of  themes  and 
written  tests  that  there  are  three  kinds  of  misspell- 
ings: (1)  unusual  wojds,  (2)  words  that  the  ideal 
pupil  would  ha\  rved,  but  to  which  attention 

has  not  been  called,  (3)  words  that  have  been  spe- 
cially dwelt  on.  Nothing  is  deducted  for  the  first 
kind,  little  for  the  second,  but  zero  is  the  only  limit 
for  penalizing  the  third.  A  third-year  pupil  who 
writes  ladys  in  an  otherwise  perfect  hundred-word 
test  may  get  80  per  cent  in  September  or  40  per  cent 
in  June.  For  the  violation  of  an  invariable,  familiar, 
clearly-understood  rule  no  marking  is  too  severe. 
And  severity  is  the  truest  kindness.  It  often  teaches 
a  stupid  pupil  in  October  what  leniency  would  leave 
untaught  in  June. 

There  is,  I  am  sure,  one  advantage  in  intensive 
spelling  that  no  amount  of  spread-out  work  can 
secure:  it  establishes  a  nucleus.  When  a  pupil  has 
reached  the  stage  where  dissapomt  and  finaly  are 
ludicrous,  where  they  instantly  recall  the  teacher's 
invective, then  that  pupil  is  ready  to  be  more  ashamed 
ransative  or  to  detect  and  reform  apropriation. 
As  long  as  he  is  taught  that  he  is  responsible  for  a 
vast  field  of  seldom-used  nouns  he  feels  abused,  he 
justifies  his  errors  to  himself ;  but  when  he  is  strictly 
liable  for  only  a  few  square  yards  he  cannot  excuse 
himself.  He  is  then  alive  to  errors;  which  means 
tli.it  his  intellect  has  been  quickened.  When  a  boy 
who  used  to  look  on  Macauly  with  indifference  has  \ 
oome  to  look  upon  it  as  an  absurdity,  then  he  has  ' 
taken  a  most  significant  intellectual  step. 


64  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Such  advances  dignify  the  petty  and  onerous 
teaching  of  spelling.  And  not  in  that  homiletic  sense 
in  which  we  are  encouraged  to  sweep  a  room  as  if  it 
were  God's  work,  but  in  that  practical  and  scientific 
sense  in  which  the  dissection  of  a  mosquito  builds  the 
Panama  Canal.  When  you  bring  a  pupil  into  a  posi- 
tion where  buisness  is  ludicrous,  you  have  made  him 
dread  to  be  ludicrous  in  the  case  of  other  words ;  you 
have  disclosed  that  pest  of  indifference;  you  are 
preparing  for  a  constructive  work. 

Limiting  the  work  to  such  a  small  area  may  seem 
intensive  enough,  yet  even  in  this  restricted  space 
one  portion  is  much  more  valuable,  more  difficult, 
and  to  be  labored  in  more  intensively  than  the  rest. 
It  is  the  portion  that  includes  derived  forms,  like 
preterits  and  plurals.  Don't  think  of  the  major  part 
of  your  task  as  a  list  of  words.  That  is  what  you  will 
always  be  hearing  and  reading — how  many  thousand 
words  should  be  in  our  list,  or  how  many  hundred. 
Even  this  chapter  has  been  presenting  a  list.  But 
the  most  limited  list  is  still  a  collection  of  mere  units. 
Much  more  important  is  a  set  of  the  few  principles 
that  govern  common  changes  of  form. 

To  illustrate.  The  form  stoped  is  a  greater  evil 
than  seperate  because  it  shows  ignorance  of  an 
invariable  principle  whose  application  is  required 
several  times  on  every  theme.  It  means  that  the 
pupil  will  go  sluming  and  diping  and  that  he  will 
be  forever  triping  and  sliping  in  a  most  ghastly  way. 
Ladys  may  not  be  worse  than  discribe,  but  it  means 
a  woeful  ignorance  that  is  going  to  be  displayed  in 
every  composition;  it  signifies  more  illiteracy,  a 
more  hopeless  mental  state.  A  ladle's  hat  certifies 
that  the  writer  is  grossly  uneducated,  while  probally 


■ 
INTENSIVE  SPELLING  65 

proves  no  more  than  that  he  is  careless.  It  is  such 
always-used  principles  that  we  must  drive  at. 
Dissapear  may  be  good  evidence  that  the  writer  will 
misspell  several  similar  words  that  occur  once  in  a 
while;  comeing  is  proof  that  he  will  misspell  a  hun- 
dred that  occur  constantly.  It  is  these  derived 
forms  that  multiply  errors.  When  you  establish 
such  a  type-form,  you  wipe  out  a  whole  regiment  of 
the  enemy. 

The  following  rules  and  groupings  are  mostly 
familiar,  but  some  of  the  hints  about  what  to  expect 
and  how  to  attack  may  be  useful. 

i — AFFIXES 

1.  If  a  one-syllable  verb  ends  in  a  single  conso- 
nant preceded  by  a  single  vowel,  double  the  conso- 
nant before  ed.  Stoped  is  the  form  that  occurs  ten 
times  oftener  than  other  failures  of  this  class.  Make 
pupils  pronounce  hope,  hoped  and  then  stope,stopedt 
ami  ask  if  they  know  what  stope  means.  This  is  not 
like  exhibiting  such  wrong  forms  as  wierd  and! 
n Ir i (/lit,  which  the  pupil  never  sees  in  his  reading  and 
which  the  teacher  ought  not  to  show  him.  Correct 
forms  like  slopped  and  sloped,  lopped  and  loped  are 
frequently  seen  and  have  to  be  distinguished. 

If  the  accent  is  on  the  last  syllable  of  longer  verbsi 
the  situation  is  the  same.  Illustrate  occurred  by\ 
furred.  Contrast  it  with  cured  and  secured.  Occured 
and  controled  are  the  common  ones.  Many  pupils 
have  no  ear  for  the  abstraction  "accent  on  the  last 
sy liable,' '  and  are  puzzled  about  preferred  and  of- 
fered. But  if  you  pronounce  prefer,  with  an  exag- 
gerated emphasis,  they  smile  at  the  curiosity.  Then 
a  good  formula  is:  "  Prefer  ed  ought  to  look  just  as 


66  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

queer  to  your  eye  as  it  sounds  to  your  ear."  Din- 
ning-room  is  a  form  that  sometimes  survives  the 
most  slaughterous  attacks,  and  writting  is  very  long- 
lived.  (Chagrined  is  the  only  correct  form  of  its 
kind.) 

2.  Drop  a  final  e  before  a  suffix  beginning  with 
a  vowel.  The  instinctive  dislike  of  doing  this  is  very 
strong,  so  that  while  you  very  frequently  see  such 
an  error  as  comeing  in  signs,  you  will  probably  never 
see  shoeing  misspelled.  These  oe  verbs,  and  a  few 
rarities  like  dye  and  singe  (to  avoid  confusion)  are 
the  only  ones  that  retain  the  e  before  ing.  In  Eng- 
land it  is  kept  very  commonly  before  able,  and  we 
all  have  to  write  mileage  and  acreage,  but  in 
America  we  consistently  write  tamable,  lovable,  etc. 
The  exception  is  after  a  g  or  c  "to  preserve  the  soft 
sound.' '     Ask  how  a  pupil  pronounces  cable  and 

I  gable;  then  force  him  to  pronounce  peacable  and 
changable.  The  commonest  exceptions  are  ninth, 
truly,  judgment  (almost  universally  printed  so,  de- 
spite dictionary  warrant  for  the  e),  and  argument. 
The  regular  ones  that  have  to  be  most  contended  for 
are  surely,  arrangement,  immediately,  definitely. 

3.  Change  y  to  i  after  a  consonant : 

(a)  in  plurals — stories  (but  proper  names  are 
usually  not  changed — Henrys;  and  there 
are  a  few  abnormal  forms  like  stand-bys 
and  drys) 

(b)  in  third  singular — cries  " 

(c)  in  past  tense — cried 

•(d)  in  comparison — happier,  luckiest 

(e)  in  adverbs — easily,  luckily 

(f )  before  ness — business 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING  67 

Probably  not  more  than  half  your  class  can  learn 
that  last  word  until  they  see  the  demonstration: 
busy+ness=business. 

4.  Change  ie  to  y  in  ti/inf/,  lying,  etc. 

5.  There  are  three  irregular  preterits  in  aid: 
laid,  paid,  said.  All  other  ay  verbs  are  regular,  like 
stayed,  delayed.  u Delay' '  is  not  a  compound  like 
4  *  inlay, ' p  and  staid  is  so  unusual  that  a  college  exam- 
iner once  marked  it  an  error. 

6.  Three  eed  verbs:  exceed,  proceed,  succeed. 
Others  are  regular,  like  precede  and  the  noun  pro- 
cedure. 

7.  There  are  no  adjectives  in  full  except  newly- 
coined,  hyphenated  words.  They  are  always  like 
useful. 

8.  Pupils  use  the  double  I  in  some  common 
adverbs  very  grudgingly.  The  most  abused  are 
finally,  accidentally,  usually,  and  really. 

9.  Adjectives  in  ic  have  to  take  on  an  al  before 
the  ly.  Publicly  is  an  exceptional  form. 

10.  Probably  everyone  in  your  class  can  spell 
appoint  and  knows  that  the  common  prefix  is  dis, 
yet  a  fourth  of  them  will  repeatedly  misspell  disap- 
point and  disappear.  The  same  form  of  emphasis 
is  needed  for  re+commend,  mean+ness,  etc. 

11.  Usually  al  forms  an  adjective  and  le  is  a 
noun  ending.  Principal  and  principle  look  simple, 
but— 

12.  A  few  verbs  like  mimic  and  picnic  require  a 
A;  before  ing  to  preserve  the  hard  sound  of  c. 

13.  Eight  common  nouns  ending  in  o  preceded  by 
a  consonant  form  their  plurals  by  adding  es:  echo, 
hero,  negro,  no,  potato,  tomato,  tornado,  torpedo; 
also  the  game  of  dominoes,  usually  jingoes,  and  the 


68  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Scotch  jo.  Most  others  must  be  os,  and  all  others 
may  be.  The  rule  is  usually  given  the  other  way 
round,  but  there  is  dictionary  warrant  for  os  in 
every  case  except  as  stated  above.  In  all  our  dic- 
tionaries os  is  understood  when  no  plural  is  indi- 
cated. 


n — CONFUSIONS 

1.  Certain,  captain,  and  villain  often  appear  with 
the  i  before  the  a — and  then  reappear  frequently 
after  you  have  had  ruffian  and  Christian  exhibited. 

2.  There  is  no  generalization  for  the  el  and  le 
nouns.  The  best  I  can  do  is  to  make  sure  of  a  few 
common  ones  in  el,  heading  the  list  with  angel. 

3.  An  apostrophe  shows  where  letters  are  omit- 
ted; no  letters  are  added  to  form  an  abbreviation. 
Could  anything  be  simpler?  Could  a  sensible  child 
ever  require  a  second  caution  about  e  and  no  e  in 
haven't  and  didn't P  He  could.  Many  require  five 
or  ten. 

4.  Use  no  apostrophe  for  the  possessive  of  a  per- 
sonal pronoun — its,  yours,  hers,  theirs.  Its  is  the 
one  most  commonly  wrong.  Whose  is  difficult  for 
some  to  acquire.  Indefinites  (one,  another,  etc.) 
have  the  apostrophe.  Be  cautioned  in  advance  about 
a  way  some  children  have  of  putting  an  apostrophe 
into  a  plain  plural. 

5.  There  is  a  strong  tendency  to  hyphenate  certain 
solid  words,  especially  together,  altogether,  without, 
and  nevertheless. 

6.  In  view  of  what  I  know  after  eighteen  years 
of  experience  I  think  the  value  of  the  miscellaneous 
hints  in  this  paragraph  is  not  less  than  twenty  dol- 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING  69 

lars.  One  boy  with  a  good  mind  persisted  through 
■  whole  year  in  writing  omit  with  two  m's  in  spelling 
lessons.  Oppinion  is  a  parallel  case.  Boys  from 
most  cultured  families  will  most  marvelously  per- 
sist in  pr chaps  and  preformance.  Boys  who  have 
known  ex  and  capio  for  three  years  will  in  English 
sometimes  except  an  invitation.  For  school  pur- 
poses affect  is  a  verb  and  effect  is  a  noun ;  never  put 
them  together  for  comment.  " Don't  despair;  we 
can  destroy  the  enemy' '  may  teach  three  fearsome 
words  with  one  effort.  Avoid  any  exhibiting  of 
forms  that  do  not  exist,  like  diden't,  caption;  it  is 
dangerous  to  write  occur  ed  or  picnicing  on  the  board 
unless  they  are  audibly  derived  as  strange  monsters 
from  cure  and  ice;  if  you  hope  to  teach  angel,  do  not 
write  angle  in  that  recitation.  Pupils  are  mentally 
stone-deaf  to  the  difference  between  occasion 
and  occassion,  picnicking  and  picnicing;  only  by 
forcing  them  to  use  their  tongues,  by  making  them 
say  cassion,  by  insisting  that  they  pronounce  that 
wonderful  new  word  occassion,  will  you  get  any- 
where at  all.  A  boy  will  calmly  pronounce  picnicing 
in  the  orthodox  way ;  he  has  not  felt  the  appeal  until 
you  make  him  say  successively  ice,  icing,  nicing,  pic- 
nicing, or  mice,  micing,  mimicing;  he  will  balk  at  that 
last  step  and  be  unable  to  pronounce  his  own  spell- 
ing. Turnes  is  not  very  common;  showes  is  fairly 
frequent;  ashes  flourishes  in  its  loneliness  with  a 
vigor  that  you  will  finally  learn  to  stand  in  awe  of. 
S apprise  has  more  lives  than  a  cargo  of  Kilkenny 
cats.  Led  has  no  life  in  it ;  only  by  constant  nourish- 
ment and  zealous  care  can  you  keep  it  breathing. 
Alright  is  as  resistless  as  Tammany,  and  for  aught 
I  can  see  is  going  to  establish  itself;  it  defines  topp 


70  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

in  my  German  lexicon  and  appeared  in  Scribner's 
for  April,  1915. 

7.  All  displays  of  erroneous  forms  are  danger- 
ous. Wrong  idioms  have  to  be  spoken  and  discussed, 
for  they  are  often  met  in  real  life.  The  wrong  spell- 
ing is  very  seldom  seen  in  real  life.    Don't  show  it. 

8.  Always  require  the  hyphens  in  such  compound 
adjectives  as  six-cylinder,  snow-clad,  easy-going.  It 
is  marvelous  to  see  how  pupils  who  persistently 
omit  this  necessary  link  will  refuse  to  give  up  the 
useless  hyphen  in  today  and  will  persist  in  to-gether 
and  with-out.  As  to  other  compounds  custom  is 
variable ;  it  is  a  matter  of  how  old  and  familiar  they 
are.  Baseball  has  long  been  solid ;  basketball  is  very 
recent.  You  can  find  no  rules  and  you  need  not 
worry;  but  encourage  the  hyphen,  especially  when 
the  second  part  acts  on  the  first  (a  pile-driver  is 
for  driving  piles) ;  and  encourage  the  solid  form  if 
it  is  at  all  permissible.  ' l  Close  up  your  compounds ' ' 
is  ajjpqd  motto. 

"""U! Some  groups  of  forms  cannot  be  reduced  to 
a  rule.  There  is  a  whole  book  devoted  to  able  and 
ible — without  any  resulting  formula.  Until  some 
patient  genius  can  phrase  an  inclusive  statement 
about  ance  and  ence  we  must  be  lenient  with  inde- 
pendance,  or  depend  on  special  emphasis  for  such 
of  this  class  as  are  being  used  constantly.  Capital- 
ization is  not  worth  worrying  about  beyond  the  most 
obvious  and  general  rules.  For  example,  the  prob- 
lem of  the  K's  in  " God's  in  His  heaven' '  is  hardly 
worth  comment,  but  the  I  in  "We  came  to  an  Inn" 
deserves  censure. 

10.  At  this  point  I  am  expected  to  plead  for 
simplified  spelling,  but  it  is  hard  to  be  interested  in 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING  71 

such  a  slight  revolution.  I  have  no  prejudice  against 
any  amount  of  new  forms;  allow  boys  to  amuse 
themselves  with  thru  even  if  they  know  nothing  else 
about  reformation.  But  neither  can  I  get  up  enthu- 
siasm ;  for  so  few  of  our  troubles  in  secondary  work 
are  touched  by  the  proposed  changes ;  the  Board  is 
not  altering  describe  and  separate  and  too.  Their 
program  might  remove  five  per  cent  of  my  troubles, 
but  might  very  likely  add  five  per  cent;  because 
(here  is  the  great  point)  most  pupils  are  almost 
deaf  to  these  phonetic  differences  that  are  as  audible 
to  philologists  as  the  loud-sounding  sea. 

If  thirty  very  familiar  words  are  dictated  for  a 
spelling  lesson,  it  is  nonsense  to  mark  off  only  five 
per  cent  for  each  wrong  word.  That  would  be 
encouraging  carelessness.  Ten  per  cent  would  hardly 
afford  much  discouragement.  Twenty  per  cent  is 
mild  enough  for  early  in  the  year.  Nothing  is  too 
strict  after  several  reviews.  This  is  not  harshness, 
however;  it  is  true  kindness;  for  lenient  marking  is  \ 
like  Baying  "Naughty,  naughty!"  to  a  burglar. 

Suppose  you  have  put  a  (lass  through  all  these 
common  forms  by  making  them  copy  the  lists  from 
the  hoard,  keep  them  in  a  notebook,  and  review  them 
several  times.  Then  you  will  do  well  to  begin  a 
campaign  of  dictating  sentences,  for  the  pupil  who 
spells  replies  in  a  list  of  twenty  words  may  spell 
reply s  when  his  attention  is  distracted  by  ideas  like 
this :  "It  is  surprising  how  he  loses  his  self-control. 
If  his  rich  uncle  asks  whether  the  moon  is  made  of 
green  cheese,  he  blushes,  hangs  his  head,  and  replies 
that  he  never  was  there."  Use  whimsical  or  lively 
or  colloquial  sentences.  Get  up  little  paragraphs 
that  tell  an  anecdote.    Read  these  entirely  through 


/ 


72  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

first,  then  dictate  slowly  in  small  sections.  Dicta- 
tion of  this  sort  can  be  made  to  review  points  of 
idiom  and  punctuation. 

Mark  the  misspelled  words  and  return  the  paper. 
The  errors  must  be  corrected.  Now,  here  is  a  small 
point  that  counts  for  much:  Don't  allow  each  word 
to  be  written  out  ten  times.  That  seems  not  to 
accomplish  anything.  I  know  of  a  teacher's  requir- 
ing a  boy  to  write  out  since  five  hundred  times  in 
the  afternoon — and  finding  that  in  the  evening  the 
boy  had  not  learned  how  to  spell  since.  Require  a 
list  of  the  misspelled  words ;  require  this  list  to  be 
written  ten  times.  The  reason  why  this  is  a  better 
method  is  (I  am  guessing)  that  when  the  pupil  begins 
his  second  list  his  mind  has  been  off  on  other  business, 
has  had  to  attend  to  paid,  cautious,  and  extremely; 
so  that  when  it  recurs  to  luckily  it  has  to  notice  all 
over  again,  has  to  focus  once  more  on  what  has  been 
out  of  sight. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  chapter  is  not 
intended  to  discourage,  but  to  furnish  comfort.  It 
is  better  to  know  what  kind  of  difficulty  we  are 
encountering.  Thor  was  filled  with  chagrin  at  his 
failure  to  lower  a  big  drinking-horn;  he  was  com- 
forted when  it  was  explained  to  him  that  the  horn 
was  attached  to  the  ocean.  Spelling  is  not  a  mere 
dish  at  the  feast  of  learning;  it  taps  the  untried 
deeps  of  psychology.  Don't  grow  black  in  the  face 
and  strain  frantically  when  you  find  it  so  weirdly 
impossible  to  get  rid  of  dissapear.  Keep  cheerful. 
You  can  get  fair  results  with  a  fair  amount  of  work. 

If  parents  or  a  principal  twit  you  because  your 
pupils  spell  poorly — show  them  that  " since"  story. 

Probably  the  next  teacher  you  consult  after  read- 


INTENSIVE  SPELLING  73 

ing  this  chapter  will  smile  and  tell  you  that  there  are 
many  spelling  cranks  in  our  profession;  that  the 
dryasdusts  are  by  instinct  insistent  on  this  soulless 
littleness.  But  observe  that  my  notions  have  been 
imposed  by  a  wisdom  from  above.  The  readers  of 
Yale  entrance  papers  used  to  be  instructed  to  con- 
dition any  candidate — no  matter  what  graces  of 
style  and  appreciation  he  showed — if  in  the  course 
of  an  hour's  writing  he  had  misspelled  four  words. 
1>.  slnnan  themes  at  Illinois  are  conditioned  for  two 
misspellings.  Those  are  high  authorities  on  the 
essentials  of  an  English  training.  Their  voices  must 
touch  our  trembling  ears.  They  know  what  they 
are  talking  about. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WHAT   GRAMMAR  IS  ALL  ABOUT 

That  closing  remark  about  spelling  is  a  good  open- 
ing for  the  chapter  on  the  most  jejune  of  all  subjects 
— English  grammar.  In  1909  the  National  Com- 
mittee sent  a  questionnaire  to  schools  and  colleges, 
as  a  basis  for  recommendations  about  entrance 
requirements.  One  topic  was :  Shall  there  be  a  sep- 
arate test  in  grammar?  Only  45  per  cent  of  the 
schools  favored  it,  while  60  per  cent  of  the  colleges 
voted  aye.  This  was  not  "  Shall  we  have  a  gram- 
mar requirement  V 9,  but  "  Shall  we  have  a  separate 
test?"  The  college  instructor  who  is  indifferent 
about  that  kind  of  foundation  is  a  rarity.  If  he  has 
anything  at  all  to  do  with  composition,  he  soon  finds 
out  what  mischief  is  caused  by  ignorance  of  the  ele- 
mentary anatomy  of  the  mother-tongue.  Plenty  of 
secondary  teachers  are  indifferent  about  grammar, 
giving  only  a  grudging  assent  to  a  review  in  the  first 
year  of  the  high  school ;  but  the  men  higher  up  vote 
a  heartfelt  and  almost  unanimous  yes. 

This  sort  of  contest  about  living  soul-stuff  and 
dead  mind-stuff  is  as  old  as  any  art.  But  the  archi- 
tects and  painters  and  musicians  have  been  wiser 
than  modern  teachers  of  English.  In  a  volume  of 
criticism  of  some  famous  painters,  written  by  a 
painter,  there  is  little  said  about  charm  and  emotion 
and  loveliness  and  depth  of  feeling.    Howells  makes 

74 


WHAT  GRAMMAR  IS  ABOUT  75 

a  remark  in  some  novel  about  the  pitiful  quality  of 
this  emotion-talk  that  a  non-painter  uses  in  com- 
menting on  a  picture.  No —  what  the  professional 
notes  is  the  selecting  of  boards,  the  mixing  of  colors, 
the  deftness  in  outlining,  the  study  of  lighting  and 
Perspective.  An  art  teacher  (I  speak  ignorantly, 
but  will  take  the  hazard)  insists  on  a  foundation 
of  anatomy  and  mechanical  drawing  and  sketching 
dull  plaster  models — dry  and  soulless  exercises.  A 
good  music  teacher  works  with  finger  exercises — dry 
and  soulless.  Your  architect  must  be  drilled  in  stress 
and  strain  and  shear,  which  are  perfectly  arid, 
unlovely  things. 

It  is  much  more  than  a  comparison  to  say :  A  good 
language  teacher  must  lay  a  dry  and  soulless  founda- 
tion. That  is,  considered  in  itself  it  is  unlovely; 
considered  with  a  view  to  what  is  to  rise  above,  it 
is  beautiful.  Did  you  ever  look  at  a  great  pit  where 
an  architect  was  basing  a  sky-scraper  T  It  is  ugly 
and  joyless.  But  it  is  the  only  way  to  secure  those 
lofty,  decorative  cornices. 

If  the  teacher  of  any  art  desiccates  his  own  soul, 
or  if  he  loses  sight  of  what  lies  beyond  and  above, 
or  if  he  blinds  his  pupils  to  the  real  goal  of 
endeavor — that  is  a  sad  affair.  Many  enthusiasts 
about  Knglish  ixrammar  have  doubtless  !<>st  the 
ion.  Yet  even  that  form  of  earnesFl>lm<]ness — 
if  the  choice  had  to  be  made — is  better  than  the  effort 
to  be  artistic  without  cellar  walls  or  sound  notions 
of  perspective. 

The  first  chapter  speaks  about  the  danger  of  this 
artistic  conception  of  English.  We  can  seldom  lift 
our  eyes  so  high.  A  few  boys  and  girls  study  paint- 
ing or  the  violin  because  of  special  ambition  or  tat 


76  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ent ;  every  boy  and  girl  must  study  English.  We  must 
teach  such  plain  and  fundamental  stuff  as  all  can 
learn.  We  must  instruct  in  those  mechanics  which 
every  novelist  is  keenly  conscious  of  when  he  forms 
sentences  (he  may  not  have  a  set  of  names  handy), 
which  the  orator  felt  in  every  period,  which  no 
builder  of  the  lofty  rhyme  can  disregard — and 
which  the  ordinary  high-school  pupil  has  no  true 
perception  of. 

Inspiring  any  young  spirit  is  so  dazzling  a  hope 
that  few  can  look  at  it  without  blinking.  It  is  a  hope 
that  sometimes  beguiles  teachers  into  the  bog  of 
shoddy  work.  As  a  matter  of  fact  we  are  safe  if  we 
take  Cardinal  Newman  's  ideal : 

I  hold  very  strongly  that  the  first  step  in 
intellectual  training  is  to  impress  upon  a 
boy's  mind  the  idea  of  science,  method, 
order,  principle,  and  system;  of  rule  and 
exception,  of  richness  and  harmony.  This 
is  commonly  and  excellently  done  by  making 
him  begin  with  grammar. 

We  discover  that  two  practical  demands  are  made 
of  us.  First,  that  we  furnish  a  simple  basis  of  gram- 
matical notions  on  which  teachers  of  other  languages 
can  work.  This  much  they  have  a  right  to  expect. 
It  is  a  minor  consideration  and  has  little  to  do  with 
determining  our  aims;  but  sometimes  you  will  do 
well  to  find  out  what  names  and  classifications  are 
used  in  Latin  and  modern-language  classes,  so  as 
not  to  have  needless  differences.  The  confusion  in 
terminology  used  to  be  so  great  that  a  national  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  draw  up  recommendations 


WHAT  GRAMMAR  J  $  ABOUT  77 

V 

for  uniformity.  Their  report,*  a  60-page  pamphlet, 
may  be  of  some  help  to  you  if  you  are  not  perplexed 
l»y  the  array  of  formalities. 

The  other  demand  ought  to  underlie  every  plan, 
every  detail  that  is  taken  up :  Build  a  foundation  for 
Composition.  If  this  is  constantly  iiTview,  you  will 
have~noTear  that  you  are  teaching  a  formal  subject. 
"Formal"  is  the  word.  So  damning  is  the  epithet 
that  some  of  us  hardly  dare  mention  syntax  approv- 
ingly, for  fear  we  shall  be  considered  unfit  to 
commune  with  those  that  are  of  purer  fire. 

We  cannot  do  more  than  dimly  guess  what  horrors 
would  be  revealed  if  we  could  gather  into  one  report 
a  five-minute  record  from  every  grammar  recitation 
in  the  United  States  on  a  certain  day.  Willie  in 
Concord  would  be  rehearsing  the  quaint  truth  that 
"The  definite  article  the  points  out  one  or  more 
particular  objects  as  distinct  from  others  of  the 
same  kind."  Susie  in  San  Diego  would  briskly 
declare  that  "Shall  and  should  are  often  used  in  the 
second  and  third  persons  in  subordinate  clauses  to 
express  volition  which  is  not  that  of  the  subject." 
Perhaps  thousands  of  children  are  learning  the  six 
special  irregularities  of  weak  verbs,  and  hundreds 
may  be  memorizing  the  ninety-six  prepositions. 

How  could  we  expect  that  these  crimes  of  ped- 
agogy would  not  be  committed  ?  The  rules  and  lists 
are  given;  they  are  surely  not  mere  ornaments; 
there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  they  are  for  refer- 
ence only ;  the  teacher  will  not  rashly  infer  that  they 
are  incitements  to  evil ;  not  a  hint  is  given  that  one 

*  It  may  be  obtained  by  sending  20  cents  to  the  secretary  of  the 
N.  B.  A.,  Ann  Arb<>  jan,  for  the  Report  of  the  Joint  Commit- 

tee on  Uniform  Grammatical  SonuncLr 


78  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

page  is  more  valuable  than  another.  If,  for  example, 
we  find  twelve  pages  of  shall  and  would,  and  one  and 
a  half  pages  of  predicate  nominative,  it  is  a  fair 
inference  that  the  one  subject  is  eight  times  as  valu- 
able as  the  other.  Teachers  do  so  understand  the 
emphasis.  They  must  suppose  that  a  renowned  pro- 
fessor has  proportioned  his  matter  according  to 
some  well-considered  scheme.  Indeed,  the  preface 
says  that  the  book  is  "a  means  for  continuous 
study."  Apparently  the  author — and  all  other 
authors — believes  that  foreign  plurals  are  as  impor- 
tant as  passive  voice ;  and  that  an  analysis  of  adverb 
clauses  as  concessive,  future  conditional,  etc.,  is 
three  times  as  important  as  the  matter  of  whether 
a  clause  is  adverbial.  The  exercises  indicate  that 
as  much  drill  ought  to  be  given  on  indirect  questions 
as  on  nominative  cases. 

Yet  every  secondary  teacher  of  experience  knows 
that  "continuous  study"  is  fearfully  wrong.  In  the 
first  place,  he  suspects  that  such  classifications  as 
Abstract  Nouns  and  Ordinal  Numerals  are  of  small 
value  in  themselves.  He  knows,  in  the  second  place, 
that  time  spent  on  genders  and  potential  phrases 
is  robbing  a  class  of  thorough  instruction  in  funda- 
mentals. For  he  realizes,  in  the  third  place,  how 
long  and  hard  is  the  process  of  making  one  gram- 
matical truth  take  root.  (Has  any  grammarian 
ever  realized  that  years  of  repetition  may  not  per- 
suade a  pupil  to  use  we  shall  in  the  plainest  of  in- 
dicative statements?  Not  even  the  writers  of  our 
latest  rhetoric  can  say  we  should.)  As  a  teacher 
becomes  more  familiar  with  these  rudimentary  diffi- 
culties, he  learns  the  necessity  of  spending  more 
time  on  them,  for  he  believes,  fourthly,  that  they  are 


WHAT  GRAMMAR  IS  ABOUT  79 

important  So,  leaving  long  stretches  of  text  quite 
untouched,  he_ concentrates  on  rudiments.  He  does 
not  pretend  that  his  wisdom  is  greater  than  the 
author's,  is  perplexed  at  finding  all  authors  against 
him;  but  the  facts  of  his  little  campaign  are  clear 
before  him,  and  without  disputing  the  Higher  Strat- 
egy he  abandons  it  and  develops  his  own  small  plans. 
The  criterion  by  which  he  abandons  or  attacks  is 
this:  Whatever  seems  essential  in  a  rational  pro- 
gram of  teaching  composition  is  to  be  taken  up 
thoroughly.  If  our  combined  wisdom  should  finally 
decide  that  nothing  grammatical  really  functions 
in  the  art  of  making  good  sentences,  that  a  knowl- 
edge of  syntax  is  not  comparable  to  perspective  in 
painting  or  to  finger-exercises  in  music,  then  the 
Study  of  grammar  shall  surely  die,  because  it  will 
have  so  little  excuse  for  living.  The  question  is  to 
a  certain  extent  debatable.  I  have  not  the  least 
doubt  that  a  great  deal  of  effort  as  expended  now- 
adays is  a  dead  waste,  for  we  don't  frame  sentences 
by  grammatical  analysis.    But  above  a  certain  point 

acher  cannol  convey  information  about  how  to 
make  good  senl  >r  avoid  poor  ones  unless  the 

ils  understand  syntax.  It  is  generally  believed 
today — T  can  see  no  possible  reason  for  not  believ- 

— that  a  study  of  the  simpler  principles  is  neces- 
sary as  a  basis  for  rhetoric,  that  most  matters  of 
( da Bffl tying  forms  are  of  very  slight  use. 

The  most  elementary  but  most  incorrigible  error 
in  composition  is  the  failure  to  know  the  difference 
between  a  fraction  of  a  sentence  and  two  whole  Ben* 
i. -i ices.  "No  amount  of  ordinary  correction  seems 
sufficient  to  eradicate  it,"  says  the  University  of 
Illinois.     The  u half-sentence  fault"  and  "comma 


80  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

fault"  can  be  almost  rooted  out  from  an  entire  class 
of  pupils  three  years  below  college  grade  by  an 
f  attack  based  on  grammar.  If  it  can  be  done  other- 
/  wise — say  by  prolonged  drill  in  " sentence  sense" 
without  any  reference  to  clauses,  without  reference 
to  the  difference  between  where  and  there,  he  and 
who — then  that  method  of  success  ought  to  be  pub- 
lished. I  have  never  succeeded — that  is,  with  a 
whole  class — except  by  drill  in  clauses.  "What  is 
a  dependent  clause?  Like  what  parts  of  speech  are 
clauses  used  I ' '  When^a  pupiljhas  finally  learned  to 
tell  readily  whether  these  groups  of  words  are  used 
like  nouns,  like  adjectives,  or  like  adverbs,  he  can  be 
drilled  in  pointing  them,  will  call  himself  stupid  when 
he  goes  wrong  on  a  theme,  and  will,  if  marked 
severely  enough,  quit  one  kind  of  half -sentence  fault. 
A  similar  drill  with  verbals  is  necessary  to  remove 
another  kind. 

If  every  teacher  had  clearly  in  mind  when  he  took 
up  personals  and  relatives  that  his  business  was  to 
undermine  sentence-errors,  he  would  know  how  much 
to  skip  and  where  to  dwell.  He  would  care  nothing 
for  gender,  person,  and  number,  for  thou  wast,  for 
"  self  -pronouns. ' '  He  would  care  much  to  show  how 
a  relative  is  dependent,  how  it  and  its  clause  can  be 
removed  bodily  without  destroying  the  sentence.  He 
would  be  interested  in  nominative  and  objective,  for 
he  would  be  looking  forward  to  the  study  of  noun 
clauses,  to  the  time  when  pupils  should  see  a  that 
clause  as  subject  or  object,  not  to  be  pointed  even 
by  a  comma — much  less  by  a  period.  His  heart  could 
firmly  endure  all  the  "formal"  drill,  because  he 
would  know  that  it  was  not  formal  at  all,  but  was 
living  rhetorical  substance.    He  could  have  visions 


WHAT  GRAMMAR  IS  ABOUT  81 

of  shapely  sentences  rising  from  the  welter,  could 
hear  old  Effectiveness  blow  his  wreathed  horn — and 
would  not  be  in  the  least  forlorn. 

Suppose  that  we  find  on  a  theme:  "Colonel  Sell- 
ers was  a  peculiar  man,  if  he  happened  to  make  any 
money,  he  would  immediately  give  it  away."    What 
appeal  are  we  to  make?    Doubtless  a  gifted  teacher 
of  long  experience,  who  despises  "formal"  gram- 
mar, can  devise  a  way  of  explaining  that  the  condi- 
tional money-making  looks  forward  to  the  statement 
about  spending,  and  that  there  are  two  separate 
statements,  and  that  a  semicolon  is  necessary — thus 
avoiding  the  horrid  nomenclature.     But  he  is  only 
doing  without  names  what  we  average  teachers, 
appealing  to  literal  minds,  do  with  names.     Grant 
that  his  result  is  better  for  the  soul  of  a  bright  pupil ; 
we  have  still  to  ask :  What  about  the  total  of  good  to 
be  obtained  by  a  thousand  ordinary  teachers  who 
attempt  to  follow  him  in  dealing  with  a  hundred 
thousand  ordinary  pupils?    The  question  is  of  the 
greatest     moment,     yet     national     councils     have 
hardly    begun    to    ask    it,    and    the    answer    will 
be  long  in  doubt.    My  own  guesses  are  (1)  that  only 
a  small  percentage  of  teachers  make  for  themselves 
any  complete  explanation  of  what  a  sentence-error 
is,  (2)  that  most  of  them  have  a  horror  of  a  gram- 
matical treatment,  (3)  that  in  avoiding  the  clause 
drill  they  wander  amid  a  tangle  of  impressionism, 
imt  guiding  pupils  to  clear  understanding.    In  brief: 
The  unusual  teacher's  success  is  due  (though  lie 
may  not  know  it)  to  an  understanding  of  flans 
the  novice  fails  bccauge_he  is  ignorant_ofJiQg-^o  - 
handle  clauses. 

The  most  disastrous  ignorance  in  the  realm  of 


82  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

/clauses  is  a  misapprehension  of  the  nature  of  the 
|  so-called  "connectives."  A  teacher  who  knows  how 
to  distinguish  in  his  own  practice  between  independ- 
ent adverbs  and  real  conjunctions,  who  can  use  semi- 
colons with  the  former  and  commas  with  the  latter, 
may  never  have  so  formulated  his  knowledge  that  he 
can  present  a  scheme  of  it  to  others.  He  cannot  find 
a  clear,  analysis  in  any  grammar.  The  grammatical 
surveys  in  rhetorics  are  misleading,  indicating  that 
the  adverbs  then  and  consequently  are  as  subordi- 
nating as  when  and  so  that.  One  admirable  text 
lumps  together  yet  and  indeed  as  connectives  "before 
which  a  semicolon  is  preferable."  This  is  just  as 
untrue  as  to  teach  young  people  that  sleep  is  "pref- 
erable" before  morning  and  evening.  Pupils  must 
be  taught  that  indeed  is  as  independent  as  it,  that  yet 
is  a  conjunction  like  but,  so  that  they  may  know 
assuredly  that  a  semicolon  is  necessary  with  one 
word  and  is  never  essential  wTith  the  other.  This  is 
the  fact  of  normal  composition  in  schools,  just  as  it 
is  the  fact  of  a  normal  pupil's  life  that  he  must  sleep 
before  morning  and  may  sleep  in  the  afternoon  if 
peculiar  circumstances  make  it  advisable. 

I  know  by  bitter  experience  how  petty,  how  con- 
troversial, this  appears  to  artistic  minds.  A  dozen 
times  since  I  began  this  chapter  I  have  thought, 
"  What's  the  use?  You  might  as  well  try  to  interest 
this  inexperienced  teacher  in  the  rat-proofing  of  New 
Orleans. ' '  And  that  very  simile  has  given  me  heart 
to  take  up  the  pen  again.  For  diseases  that  waste 
our  national  vigor  can  be  contended  against  only 
after  some  dirty-aproned  physician  has  dissected 
rattus  or  stegomyia.  My  laboratory  may  smell  of 
dead  yets  and  indeeds,  but  I  verily  believe  that  they 


WHAT  GRAMMA  if    is  AMOUT  83 

the  camera  of  dread  contagion,  and  that  if  ire 
know  abort  them  we  shall  give  Dp  exorcism  and  t'umi- 

ion,  and  shall  gain  health  and  prosperity  by 
terminating  pests.  Half  the  college  students  in  the 
aonntry  are  debilitated  in  their  sentence-making 
organ.  Is  this  a  visitation  of  divine  wrath!  an 
nndinirnosable  illness?  a  "miasma"  against  which  we 
fthonld  burn  sulphurous  wrath?  or  an  unescapable 
contagion  which  we  oimht  to  alleviate  by  a  diet  of 
literary  ambrosia?  My  test-tubes  assure  me  thai 
the  plague  is  directly  traceable  to  a  bacillus,  ignorun 
tm  orammatica.  I  have  demonstrated  it  on  tens  of 
thousands  of  themes;  it  always  breeds  true;  its  pres- 
ence in  a  human  brain  always  develops  sentence- 
errors  ;  when  it  is  removed  from  a  pupil,  he  no  longer 
\\  rites  sentence-errors.  My  anti-toxin  is  not  a 
panacea.  It  no  more  produces  graceful  sentences 
than  any  specific  remedy  causes  general  bodily 
vigor.  It  does  no  more  than  rid  the  system  of  one 
malady. 

I  have  no  recipe  for  increasing  the  mental  robust- 
ness of  the  race.    Just  as  it  may  be  true  that  our 

■rage  of  physical  fitness  has  been  lowered  by  arti 
ficial  aids  against  disease,  so  it  may  be  true  that 
the  injection  of  grammatical  accuracy  results  in  the 
ultimate  weakening  of  esthetic  vitality.  I  have  never 
observed  the  least  indication  of  such  after-effects, 
nor  can  I  conceive  that  they  will  occur.  But  that 
point  ifl  not  here  at  issue.  Nor  arc  we  debating 
whether  sentence  -errors  really  signify  in  the  sight 
of  Heaven.    To  me  personally  the  difference  between 

omma  and  a  semicolon  is  less  than  nothing.  I 
only  feel  that  if  a  youth  is  unable  to  grasp  the  dis- 
tinction he  is  mentally  unworthy  of  a  diploma — or 


84  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

else  his  teacher  is  unworthy  of  a  salary.  I  note 
that  the  colleges  and  tax-payers  demand  that  such 
knowledge  shall  be  imparted,  and  that  we  are  not 
meeting  the  demand  successfully.  "What  follows  is 
not  a  symposium  of  heart-throbs,  but  a  method  of 
deserving  a  hundred  dollars  a  month. 

An  inevitable  cry  of  dismay  must  be  forestalled: 
"Oh,  this  is  an  apotheosis  of  drugs!  This  will 
encourage  novices  to  herd  their  pupils  out  of  the 
pleasant  pastures  and  confine  them  amid  antidotes 
and  syringes;' '  Peace!  No  medical  thesis  ever 
turned  a  lover  of  green  fields  into  a  worshiper  of 
microbes.  Anyone  who  can  be  turned  from  the 
paths  of  good  sense  by  this  chapter  is  already  unfit 
to  teach  English. 

One  principle  is  to  be  forever  in  mind:   Pupils. 

X     Trrngj    Tmnw    whflt    words    dn    jn     rptiIptipps        That 

"Colonel  Sellers  was  a  peculiar  man,  if  he  happened 
to  make  money,,  will  illustrate.  What  does  if  do? 
It  joins  its  clause  to  ivould  give.  A  pupil  who  has 
been  taught  to  find  out  instantly  what  if  does  is  pre- 
pared to  understand  why  the  comma  before  it  is  the 
saddest  of  blunders.  Logically  the  comma  is  right, 
because  what  follows  is  subordinate  in  thought, 
explaining  how  the  Colonel  was  peculiar.  The 
Frenchman  may  indicate  this  subordination  by  a 
comma.  We  are  not  allowed  to.  Another  illustra- 
tion is  "A  plague  upon  them,  they're  rotten.' ' 
Unless  a  person  knows  how  plague  is  used  there  is 
no  way  to  inform  him  that  a  mere  comma  is  not 
acceptable  after  them.  Our  pointing  in  such  cases 
depends  upon  grammatical  dependence  or  independ- 
ence. And  those  arbitrary  syntactical  distinc- 
tions are  never  revealed  by  any  amount  of  drill 


WHAT  GRAMMAR  IS  ABOUT  85 

in   such  mental  states  as  " non-committal  present 
conditional/ ' 

In  it >  normal  use  if  is  always  a  conjunction,  but  we 
should  discredit  the  notion  that  a  word  is  any- 
thing in  itself.  The  letters  t,  h,  and  e  sometimes 
form  an  adverb  and  sometimes  an  article.  To  teach 
that  "concerning  may  be  classed  as  a  preposition* ■ 

:  o  damage  the  youthful  mind,  because  it  conveys 
the  impression  that  a  word  is  something  in  itself; 
whereas  it  really  is  a  preposition  if  it  does  preposi- 
tionarworK.  *  *  w  hat  does  it  do  i  Tnen  what  is  it  ? '  ^ 
Any  deviation  from  this  line  of  attach  is  turning  a 
poor  child's  logic  topsy-turvy.  To  expound  "infini- 
tive clauses' '  or  "infinitives  as  modifiers' f  or 
"intransitive  passive"  (sic)  is  to  double  on  our  own 
tracks,  eluding  and  baffling  the  pupil.  Very  few 
English  forms  are  anything  in  themselves.  Asked 
is  nothing  till  you  know  what  it  does,  but  must  be 
seen  in  action,  to  sleep  is  probably  not  an  infinitive — 
and  so  on  forever.  There  is  hardly  such  a  thing  as 
a  n  intransitive  verb.  I  read  in  my  text  that  * ' Roared 
what?"  would  be  an  absurdity,  but  Shakespeare 
made  somebody  * '  roar  these  accusations  forth. ' '  To 
classify  roar  as  intransitive  and  then  to  say  "here 
used  transitively"  is  to  spoil  our  own  efforts. 
"Wliat  docs  it  do?    Then  itjs  transitive  here." 

This  truth  about  verbs  is  hardly  credible  to  some 
persons  of  middle  age  who  were  brought  up  with 
texta  modeled  after  the  Latin,  for  in  Latin  a  verb 
is  usually  transitive  or  intransitive  in  itself;  it  is 
that  kind  of  verb.  Reference  to  dictionaries  is  decep- 
tive because  they  seem  to  announce  that  a  verb  is 
hy  nature  one  kind  or  the  other.  But  try  to  find  a 
dozen  verbs  that  are  not  entered  as  both  transitive 


s 


86  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

and  intransitive.  Such  lugged-in  Latin  notions 
originally  distorted  our  texts  and  are  still  potent 
causes  of  misstatement  and  wrong  emphasis.  The 
treatment  of  mood  has  been  a  process  of  forcing 
square  English  facts  into  round  Latin  holes.  Think 
of  defining  case  of  English  nouns  as  "  variation  in 
form. ' 9  Even  the  great  and  sensible  Matzner  devoted 
pages  to  the  genders  of  our  nouns,  yet  gender  hardly 
exists  in  English.  Since  Latin  grammars  display 
elaborate  schemes  of  conjugation,  our  grammars 
have  done  the  same ;  we  have  paraded  principal  parts 
and  declensions  and  all  manner  of  paradigms  as  if 
English  forms  were  unknown  and  our  task  was  to 
commit  them  painfully  to  memory.  Every  pupil  has 
known  the  forms  all  his  life.  What  he  does  not  know 
is  how  to  describe  the  functions  of  words. 

Not  all  classification  of  forms  is  worthless,  but 
learning  about  kinds  is  of  small  value  compared  with 
learning  about  functions,  and  the  difficulties  of  teach- 
ing a  few  necessities  of  syntax  are  so  great  that  no 
ordinary  school  has  time  for  anything  more.  Not 
one  of  us  realizes  how  hard  it  is  to  make  a  whole 
class  able  to  distinguish  between  subject,  object,  and 
predicate  nominative.  Scores  of  times  I  have  seen 
normally  bright  pupils  in  a  third  year  of  review  trip- 
ping over  "up  flew  the  windows' '  or  learning  all 
over  again  why  a  gerund  is  not  a  participle. 

What  are  those  few  necessities  ?  We  might  almost 
reply,  "Whatever  will  explain  clauses.' '  You  can 
never  know  the  nature  of  clauses  until  you  under- 
stand the  uses  of  nouns,  adjectives,  adverbs,  and 
relative  pronouns.  You  cannot  tell  a  clause  from 
an  independent  sentence  until  you  have  studied  per- 
sonals.   You  cannot  know  about  nouns  and  pronouns 


WHAT  GRAMMAB  IS  ABOUT  87 

except  in  connection  with  transitive  and  intransi- 
tive verbs.  Phrases  will  always  be  clauses  until  yon 
study  prepositions.  Clauses  will  never  be  clauses 
until  you  investigate  conjunctions.  And  there  you 
are.  Through  every  inch  of  the  drudgery  you  can 
see  clauses.  Familiarity  with  them  will  breed  some 
ease  in  writing  complex  sentences,  and  so  make  style 
less  childish.  Knowledge  of  them  will  put  counter- 
feit sentences  out  of  c  ion.  In  your  toiling 
with  subject  and  object  you  have  a  purpose,  a  pre- 
vision of  how  you  are  going  to  destroy  such  monsters 
as  "What  you  say,  doesn't  count,  it's  what  you  do." 
Ellipses  are  not  futile  puzzles  if  you  are  providing 
against  "Why  not,  there's  no  danger."  You  can 
even  behold  above  the  meanest  adverb  a  light  which 
shall  show  young  intellects  why  they  must  not  let  a 
weak  adverb  clause  stand  all  alone  between  periods. 

What  have  you  supposed  you  were  going  to  do? 
B ;  i  i  se  a  dust  for  no  particular  purpose !  If  you  know 
that  every  motion  is  going  to  help  the  next  genera- 
tion to  command  a  more  decent  style,  shan't  you 
feel  that  your  occupation  is  less  like  devilish  goose- 
stepping  and  more  like  godly  labor! 

Your  year's  course  begins  with  recognizing  the 
parts  of  speecH.  They  are  not  meaningless  COUUleTB,— 
buT  parts  of  a  vital  physiology.  Definitions  are 
merely  brief  statements  of  uses:  a  word  used  as  a 
name,  a  word  whose  business  is  to  modify  nouns  and 
pronouns,  a  word  that  has  power  to  make  a  state- 
ment. Then  you  take  up  each  in  turn.  Disregard- 
ing such  relativities  as  "cognate  object",  "obi- 

rvice,"  you  attend  only  to  real  uses — subject, 
vocative,  indirect  object,  adverbial  objective.  In 
themselves  these  topics  are  exactly  as  inspiring  as 


88  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

a  heap  of  bones ;  but  a  good  physician  can  see  all  the 
way  from  the  power  of  naming  bones  to  the  power 
of  saving  lives.  Verily  so  can  you  if  your  eye  is 
not  dim.  When  Thomas  learns  that  Royal  George 
is  not  the  object  of  down  went,  and  then  for  three 
successive  weeks  hears  that  Barbara  Frietchie  is  not 
the  object  of  sprang,  a  wonderful  conception  begins 
to  grow  in  Thomas's  mind:  "I  needn't  begin  every 
sentence  of  my  own  with  the  subject."  Incidentally 
he  will  be  prepared  to  adopt  such  conventions  as 
using  commas  with  vocatives  or  appositives,  and 
not  using  them  before  objective  predicates. 

Must  we  hack  our  way  through  all  these  construc- 
tions f  Probably  yes — alas !  Why  ?  Because  unless 
Thomas  is  responsible  for  every  use  he  will  not 
understand  you  some  day  when  he  has  written  ' '  The 
Judge  was  tall,  dark-brown  hair,"  or  "When  a  boy 
is  seriously  hurt  in  football,  even  a  broken  arm  or 
leg."  You  will  point  reproachfully  at  hair  or  arm 
and  ask  its  construction;  he  will  reply,  "I  guess 
that's  one  you  didn't  teach  us." 

Accept  any  explanation  that  could  possibly  be 
deduced  by  a  rational  process.  In  "It  cost  a  dollar" 
the  noun  might  be  called  adverbial.  And  keep  in 
mind  always  that  the  analysis  which  long  habit 
makes  obvious  to  us  is  essentially  hard.  Can  you 
present  off-hand  an  irresistible  demonstration  of  the 
antipodal  functions  of  the  two  following  verbs? 
"She  seems  a  goddess",  "She  resembles  a  goddess." 

Thence  to  those  words  that  take  the  place  of 
nouns.  All  the  parade  of ' l  compound  ",  "  demonstra- 
tive", "indefinite,"  is  a  show  of  phantoms,  only  to 
be  glanced  at.  "What  do  they  do?"  Just  what 
nouns  do — except  those  relatives.    Everything  about 


T^adn^  tftljf-tuc  s 

WHAT  GRAMMAR  IS  ABOUT  89 

pronouns  is  too  easy,  too  vacuous  to  spend  effort  on 
compared  with  those  relatives.  They  are  weak  by 
nat  u iv,  small,  parasitic,  unable  to  stand  alone.  They 
can  be  graphically  charted  by  writing  them  in  very 
small  letters  on  a  line  slanting  down  from  a  big 
antecedent.  This  is  not  kindergartening;  it  is  a 
primal  fact  about  sentences.  If  a  child  establishes 
the  mental  habit  of  drawing  a  ring  about  a  relative 
clause,  he  can  always  corral  his  relative  construc- 
tions ;  if  he  has  formed  no  such  habit,  he  will  be  for- 
r  turning  loose  upon  society  such  mavericks  as 
"I  have  something  here  that  as  long  as  I  keep  it, 
I'll  be  unhappy."  Nor  have  I  observed  that  such  a 
sense  of  restraint  ever  stiffened  a  lively  style  in  the 
least  Would  Stevenson  have  been  more  charming 
if  he  had  allowed  his  clauses  to  stampede t  You  will 
.  never  waste  time  by  additional  exercises  in  relatives, 
for  no  class  ever  knew  them  infallibly.  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  you  should  touch  upon  relatives  as 
descriptive  and  restrictive.  The  distinction  is  the 
most  delicate  and  difficult  in  the  whole  field  of  rhe- 
toric, the  hardest  to  formulate,  the  hardest  for  illit- 
erate minds  to  grasp.  It  must  be  mastered  before 
clauses  can  be  properly  pointed,  but  "touching 
upon ' '  will  accomplish  nothing.  Unless  you  can  pre- 
sent it  fully,  you  had  best  not  take  it  up  at  all.  It 
is  a  rhetorical  distinction. 

As  you  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  4<  adjective 
pronouns,"  so  you  will  not  speak  of  "pronominal 
adjectives."  We  must  play  no  game  of  now-you-see- 
it  and now-you-don't.  By  their  functions  ye  shall 
know  them.  With  the  exception  of  possessives^  To 
call  these  adjectives  might  help  modern-language 
instructors,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  we  can  afford 


90  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

to  do  so;  for  it  creates  the  contradiction  that  pos- 
sessive nouns  are  nonns,  but  that  possessive  pro- 
nouns are  adjectives.  And  consistency  is  precious 
in  elementary  grammar.  We  must  advance  con- 
sistently to  participles.  If  you  realize  that  they  are 
the  goal,  and  that  a  knowledge  of  them  will  prevent 
sentence-errors,  you  can  handle  adjectives  with  zeal. 

In  adverbs  a  definition  will  be  useful.  (You  will 
find  that  occasionally  adverbs  really  modify  preposi- 
tions and  conjunctions:  "right  on  that  spot,  stand- 
ing just  where  he  told  us. ' ')  You  will  feel  very  little 
interest  in  the  different  kinds  of  meanings,  or  in 
irregular  comparisons,  or  yes  and  no,  or  expletive 
there,  or  uses  of  the  superlative.  You  are  concerned 
with  "What  is  it  doing V9  You  will  wish  you  could 
tear  out  that  leaf  that  tells  about  "relativej^dy£rj)^" 
for  it  exposes  a  child  to  the  plague,"abuses  and  mis- 
leads  him.  They  are  conjoining  words.  Interroga- 
tive adverbs  are  adverbs. 

The  ideal  text  would  alternate  lessons  in  verbs 
x  and  constructions  of  nouns,  for  they  are  inseparable 
matters.  You  must  join  what  the  text  has  sundered. 
Four-fifths  of  your  time  on  verbs  will  be  spent_rn_ 
distinguishing  betwen  intransitive  and  passive, 
object  and  predicate  nominative;  one-fifth  on  all 
other  matters.  For  sequence  of  tenses  in  composi- 
tion will  never  be  influenced  by  parsings,  and  sub- 
junctive mood  is  not  defined  alike  by  any  two 
grammarians.  A  statement  or  question  of  fact  is 
indicative,  a  command  is  imperative,  a  mere  condi- 
tion of  mind  is  subjunctive1— 116  more  but  so.  And 
be  willing  to  leave  mood  quite  untaught  until  you 
have  made  doubly  sure  of  the  necessities. 

Prepositions — what  delight  have  they  promised 


WHAT  GRAMMAR  IS  ABOUT  91 

you!  You  can  find  them  almost  inspiring  if  you 
anticipate  coherent  modifiers  and  the  clearer  notions 
of  clauses.  A  phrase  is  always  a  clause  to  Thomas, 
and  until  he  can  distinguish  you  have  no  language 
by  which  to  explain  some  matters  of  arranging,  vary- 
ing, and  pointing.  It  is  not  that,  grammar  makes  , 
good  sentences,  but  that  itf  m,a>e?  pna«ible  the  jom- ' 
municating  of  ideas  about  forming  sentences.  So 
yonr  object  is  to  delimit  prepositions  from  adverbs 
on  the  one  hand  and  conjunctions  on  the  other.  "Tney 
always  have  objects,  never  modify  anything,  but 
f o rm  phrases  that  modify.  IAke  lH  Hot ' '  an  adjective 
used  iiKe  a  preposition";  it  is  a  preposition.  YoTT 
never  weary  of  inquiring  what  the  object  is  and  what 
the  phrase  modifies.  And  you  look  into  the  seeds  of 
time  and  see  an  epoch  when  "in  which  he  sat  in" 
will  be  monstrous,  and  when  a  phrase  will  not  be  a 
sentence. 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  all  this  study  is  prelim- 
inary to  conjunctions,  for  conjunctions  mean  clauses,  / 
and  clauses  mean  the  approach — as  near  as  mechan- 1 
ics  can  go — to  decent  sentences.  Your  energy  will 
all  be  directed  at  "What  Hn^a  if  do*"  One  form  of 
answer,  one  invariably,  must  be  insisted  on;  any 
other  will  leave  the  class  in  a  haze:  "It  attaches  its 
(la  use  to  one  word."  It  may  join  a  modifier  or  an 
object,  but  only  when  we  know  to  what  one  word  and 
for  what  purpose  can  we  answer  "  TujyL_wJiaJLJrind 
j&iil"  When  and  where  are  no  guarantee  of  what 
the  clause  is.  "How  is  the  clause  used?"  In  "Use 
such  powers  as  you  have"  as  joins  a  clause  to  the 
adjective  such ;  therefore  the  clause  is  adverbial,  no 
matter  what  your  text  declares.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  as  must  ever  be  called  a  relative  pronoun. 


92  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

There  is  in  your  text  a  section  which  ought  to  be 
excised  by  a  national  board  of  censorship.  Some 
day  it  will  be.  It  is  that  paragraph  which  asserts 
that  some  adverbs  are  conjunctions.  Still  is  not  a 
conjunction.  However  is  not  a  conjunction — never 
in  a  secondary  school.  Nor  is  nevertheless  nor  more- 
over nor  then.  If  this  dictum  is  a  flat  denial  of  the 
whole  thesis,  then  the  thesis  must  go  to  smash.  We 
face  an  ugly,  illogical  fact,  a  social  taboo  that  is 
superior  to  all  reason.  The  fact  of  custom  is  that 
we  do  not  point  these  words  with  commas  as  we  do 
though  and  unless.  We  place  a  deadly  entanglement 
in  the  path  of  progress  if  we  so  much  as  whisper  the 
possibility  that  these  independent, adverbs  might  in 
any  event  ever  conceivably  be  called  conjunctions. 
No,  we  must  shout  the  contrary.  And  as  we  vocifer- 
ate we  may  see  opening  before  us  a  highway  of  real 
sentences  on  which  pupils  may  safely  travel  to  that 
Promised  Land  in  which  there  are  no  sentence- 
errors. 

A  verbal  used  like  an  adjective  is  a  participle;  a 
verbal  used  like  a  noun  is  an  infinitive.  TUat  ought 
to  be  the  limit  of  definition,  but  unfortunately  a 
National  Committee  asks  us  to  call  ing  infinitives 
gerunds.  So  be  it,  then.  But  assure  your  class  that 
the  difference  is  purely  formal,  that  you  are  dissect- 
ing only  adjective  uses  and  noun  uses.  Never  swerve 
from  that.  Never  use  the  confusing  "  participial 
infinitive"  nor  "infinitive  clause"  nor  "infinitive 
modifiers,"  nor  "complementary"  nor  "purpose"; 
spend  little  time  on  phrases,  tenses,  or  "pure  adjec- 
tive." Drive  at  "Is  it  noun  or  adjective?"  Every 
infinitive  is  used  like  a  noun:  "complementary"  is 
a  direct  object;   "purpose"   and  "modifier"  are 


WHAT  GRAMMAR  IS  ABOUT  93 

objects  of  to,  and  the  phrase  modifies.  "Every  par- 
ticiple must  modify  something.  What  is  it?  Why, 
then,  is  it  dangling  helpless  in  your  sentence TM 

There  is  the  program — to  deal  with  no  mere  forms, 
to  ask  what  words  do,  to  keep  before  us  the  vision 
of  better  sentences. 

A  text  to  put  this  into  effect  would  have  quite  a 
dilTerent  appearance  from  our  present  grammars. 
It  would  do  in  form  what  most  experienced  teachers 
do  in  practice:  offer  hardly  any  text,  offer  a  thou- 
sand sentences  to  work  with.  Its  few  simple  defini- 
tions would  be  mere  titles  for  colloquial  comment 
on  a  few  principles.  The  comments  would  be  brief, 
serving  only  to  introduce  the  illustrations.  And  the 
illustrations  would  be  nothing  but  introductions  to 
the  only  part  that  counts — exercises.  Probably  nine- 
tenthfl  of  the  book  would  be  sentences  so  grouped  as 
to  afford  easy  preliminary  drill  on  one  topic,  then 
on  two  topics  mingled,  every  exercise  including  some 
sentences  that  contain  no  illustrations  of  the  topic. 
This  is  not  a  policy  of  puzzles ;  it  is  insurance  against 
heedlessness — a  highly  important  bit  of  tactics.  The 
fences  would  be  taken  mostly  from  stories  and 

criptions,  so  that  they  should  seem  human,  some- 
what interesting,  and  so  that  their  meaning  should  be 
obvious  at  first  reading.  We  cannot  reckon  how 
unreal  we  have  made  grammar  with  our  selections 
from  Tennyson  and  Emerson.  (And  possibly  have 
done  something  toward  making  literature  odious.) 
It  is  more  profitable  to  examine  a  live  idiom  like  "I 
don't  know  who  did  it"  than  to  whirl  toward  AizraePs 
outposts  with  "As  night  to  stars,  woe  lustre  gives 
to  man." 

Does  it  sound  like  a  program  of  easy  incomplete- 


94  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ness?  It  would  be  quite  the  contrary.  For  it  is 
harder  to  be  thorough  in  a  few  fundamentals  than 
to  hurry  through  a  thousand  non-essentials;  more 
complete  to  know  all  of  something  than  to  know  only 
a  little  about  some  things. 

Does  it  sound  like  a  great  lot  of  work  for  a  small 
result?  It  is  true  in  one  way  that  a  year  of  drill 
in  syntax  does  not  furnish  much  useful  knowledge; 
many  a  skilful  writer  who  in  the  truest  sense  under- 
stands his  mother-tongue  knows  nothing  of  gram- 
matical formulas  and  would  not  have  his  skill  per- 
ceptibly increased  by  a  course  in  syntax.  Grammar 
drill  actually  counts  for  very  little  in  training  a  pupil 
to  use  the  language  correctly,  for  there  are  very 
few  opportunities  (like  "if  I'd  have  known' '  or 
"between  you  and  I")  to  appeal  to  reason.  It  is  a 
fact  that  though  a  man  has  all  knowledge  of  diagram- 
ing clauses,  so  that  he  can  analyze  unfalteringly  the 
maziest  sentence  of  Pater  or  James,  he  may  never- 
theless be  unable  to  compose  one  interesting  period. 
In  spite  of  the  various  hints  given  above  as  to  how 
grammar  may  be  applied  for  obviating  careless  con- 
structions, it  must  be  admitted  that  such  applications 
come  only  now  and  then,  could  be  made  without  all 
the  preparatory  analysis.  Grammar  probably  trains 
the  intellect  no  better  than  a  dozen  other  subjects 
that  have  greater  cultural  content.  What  on  earth 
does  grammar  do?  It  prepares  a  pupil  to 
learn  when  he  has  reached  the  end  of  a  sentence  and 
to  be  instructed  in  punctuating  that  sentence.  Is 
that  a  small  result?  It  must  look  positively  tiny  to 
you;  it  appears  insignificant  to  some  experienced 
educators.  That  is  because  you  measure  size  astro- 
nomically.   To  an  astronomer  the  solution  of  a  quad- 


WHAT  GRAMMAR  IS  ABOUT  '  95 

ratio  equation  is  an  achievement  about  the  size  of  a 
pea ;  to  a  grade  pupil  it  is  larger  than  the  moon.  The 
child  is  trained  for  years,  slowly  advanced  from  one 
simplicity  to  another,  before  he  can  begin  algebra. 
Some  day  the  world  will  realize  that  we  have  been 
regarding  the  solution  of  written-sentence  forma- 
tions from  the  astronomer's  view-point,  have  been, 
as  it  were,  taking  subtraction  for  granted  and  merely 
glancing  at  decimals.  As  a  result  our  children  have 
only  the  dimmest  notion  of  what  a  sentence  is ;  the 
children  become  youths  in  high  school,  and  still  have 
the  dimmest  notion  of  what  a  sentence  is ;  here  they 
are  exercised  in  the  higher  calculus  of  English  with- 
out knowing  what  plain  quadratics  are ;  and  half  of 
them  proceed  to  college  quaternions  before  some 
sensible  director  of  freshman  composition  requires 
them  to  learn  why  x2  +  y2  cannot  be  factored.  Al8 
Professor  Thomas  of  Minnesota  says  about  ordinary 
college  freshmen:  "They  have  been  left  in  total 
ignorance  of  the  nature  of  a  sentence.  .  .  .  The 
whole  theory  of  punctuation  still  remains  in  worlds 
beyond  their  ken."  Freshman  instructors  at  Wil- 
liams have  to  devote  the  first  weeks  of  the  college 
i  to  drill  in  the  rudiments  of  punctuation.  And 
punctuation  cannot  be  taught  without  a  knowledge  of 
clauses. 

If  quadratics  is  a  "small"  result  in  mathematics, 
so  is  a  knowledge  of  clauses  "small"  in  English. 
Not  otherwise. 


X   I, 


CHAPTER  V 

TEACHING  GRAMMAR 

/  One  precept  must  be  graven  in  your  mind :  Noth- 
ing is  true  simply  because  your  text  says  it  is  true. 
A  marvelous  collection  could  be  made  of  untruths 
that  have  been  solemnly  rehearsed  from  one  genera- 
tion to  another.  One  example  is  Dr.  Johnson's  guess 
that  "had  rather"  is  a  vulgarism — an  absolute  fals- 
ity that  lived  unresisted  for  a  century  and  a 
quarter,  has  been  thirty  years  a-dying,  and  is  not 
dead  yet.  Only  five  years  ago  an  Atlantic  contrib- 
utor inveighed  against  the  ignorance  of  an  age  which 
had  no  more  feeling  for  grammatical  propriety  than 
to  use '  '  no  one  but  me. ' '  She  argued  that i  \  me ' '  was 
wrong.  All  such  things-that-aren't-so  arise  from 
logical  brains  that  argue.  Grammar  admits  of  no 
argument — at  least  Professor  Whitney  convinced 
most  thinking  Americans  that  it  doesn't;  and  since 
his  time  a  host  of  thinking  professors  have  been 
beating  into  us  the  notion  that  reasoning  about 
grammar  is  an  utterly  fatuous  futility.  Perhaps 
you  have  some  conceptions  about  this  or  that  usage 
as  wrong  * l  because. ' '  You  will  constantly  encounter 
prepossessions  against  respectable  idioms  ' '  because ' ' 
of  some  ratiocination.  The  only  way  to  know  about 
respectability  is  to  know  the  facts  of  usage — has  it 
been,  or  is  it  now,  commonly  employed  by  educated 
people  f 

English  grammar  is  always  furnishing  surprises, 
things  you  never  thought  of  before.  If  you  teach  it 
twenty  years,  you  will  not  get  entirely  beyond  the 

96 


_./*..  ..i~-   ^  ^iiswvrui*       J2S     jlr 


TEACHING  GRAMMAR  97 

unexpected.  But  the  great  body  of  usual  explana- 
tions is  not  hard  to  acquire.  The  best  guide  for 
teachers  that  I  happen  to  know  is  Grammar  and  Its 
Reasons  by  Mary  H.  Leonard.  It  is  clear,  sensible  in 
its  methods,  remarkably  complete,  and  always  sound. 
The  most  thorough  and  reliable  text  is  Whitney's 
Essentials  of  English  Grammar,  which,  though 
designed  as  a  textbook,  is  really  a  manual  crammed 
full  of  information  for  the  teacher.  Kittredge  and 
Farley's  Advanced  English  Grammar,  though  mis- 
leading in  some  of  its  statements,  records  some 
facts  of  idiom  that  other  authors  have  been  too 
timorous  to  include.  Armed  with  these  three  volumes 
you  can  bag  almost  any  idiom  that  rears  its  fearsome 
head.  Should  you  by  any  strange  chance  ever  wish 
to  go  further  in  quest  of  facts  from  our  literature, 
use  Matzner's  three- volume  Grammatik.  Even  if 
the  German  comment  is  hard  to  read,  the  great 
stores  of  quotations  are  easy — and  they  are  what 
o units.  Otto  Jespersen's  volumes  of  syntax  (in 
Knirlish)  will  he  another  tremendous  collection  of 
quotations,  very  originally  and  entertainingly 
grouped.  It  may  be  many  years  before  this  is 
completed;  the  first  volume  (1914)  does  not  cover 
mueh  of  the  field. 

English  constructions  are  hard  to  reduce  to  an 
orderly  scheme.  After  a  person  has  been  arranging 
an<l  explaining  them  for  five  years  he  is  astonished  to 
find  unsolved  perplexities  confronting  him  every  year 
for  the  next  five.  They  are  specially  numerous  in 
common  idioms  and  colloquial  language.  Be  pre- 
pared to  be  " stuck* '  at  any  time.  It  is  fatal  to  pr 
tend  knowledge,  because  you  may  make  a  pronoun e 
ment  that  will  later  be  disastrous.    The  best  way  out 


98  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

is:  "I've  never  thought  of  that.  I  want  to  make 
,  sure.  I  '11  teJLyjajJgmojpgow. ' '  if  in  the  rush  of  a 
recitation  you  make  a  ruling  that  later  recoils  upon 
you  and  shows  that  you  were  wrong,  acknowledge  it. 
Get  straight  again.  There  is  no  other  way  to  keep 
the  respect  of  the  class.  But  of  course  you  must  dis- 
play as  little  ignorance  as  possible.  Often  you  can 
see  the  trouble  coming  and  can  avoid  the  encounter; 
Often  the  puzzle  is  of  no  value  to  the  class,  and  you 
can  say  that  you  are  omitting  the  oddities.  Try  to 
have  it  understood  from  the  beginning  that  English 
syntax  is  not  like  arithmetic:  a  teacher  of  other 
subjects  knows  an  answer  to  every  question  that  can 
arise ;  in  every  elementary  grammar  there  are  ques- 
tions that  lexicographers  cannot  agree  about. 

At  many  points  in  the  course  there  will  be  options 
as  to  how  you  classify  or  explain.  Make  it  clear  to 
the  class  that  some  of  the  schemes  are  arbitrary, 
that  the  matter  is  handled  otherwise  in  other  books 
or  other  schools,  but  that  for  the  sake  of  uniformity 
it  is  necessary  to  require  some  one  scheme  with  any 
one  class.  Always  try  to  give  credit  for,  or  at  least 
to  excuse,  a  recitation  that  shows  an  analysis  which 
might  have  been  taught  somewhere  in  the  world. 
Sensible  headwork,  even  if  the  result  is  laughable,  is 
better  than  mere  devotion  to  an  arbitrary  standard. 
If  a  pupil  says  that  trotting  in  "he  went  trotting 
along  the  sidewalk' '  is  a  modifier  of  went,  this  is 
a  notion  that  has  reality  in  it;  it  is  not  to  be  con- 
demned unless  it  conflicts  with  a  standing,  invariable 
ruling  that  participles  never  modify  verbs.  The 
.  word  really  does  convey  the  impression  that  he  went 
"in  a  trotting  fashion";  it  may  truly  be  called 
adverbial.     But  we  get  a  clearer,  more  consistent 


TEACHING  GRAMMAR  99 

outline  of  English  syntax  if  we  insist  that  participles 
are  always  used  like  adjectives,  and  that  hence 
trotting  is  a  form  of  predicate  adjective  after 
innt. 

^This  is  one  of  hundreds  of  examples  of  how  hard 
it  is  to  frame  a  plain  and  consistent  outline  in  which 
the  " always* '  is  not  to  be  continually  criss-crossed 
by  the  "sometimes,  however.' '  That  undeviating 
outline  is  really  a  necessity.  It  does  not  narrow  you 
or  your  subject  or  the  pupil ;  it  is  simply  the  skeleton 
of  the  Generally  True;  it  is  the  support  for  gram- 
matical concepts.  When  it  is  mastered — and  not 
before — a  pupil  is  entitled  to  debate  of  might-bes 
and  in-realities.  You  and  the  pupils  will  keep  in  a 
much  happier  frame  of  mind  if  you  recognize  that 
the  stiff  outline  is  a  useful  device,  not  a  subject  or 
an  end  in  itself. 

The  actual  work  with  miscellaneous  sentences 
all  that  really  counts.  You  need  hundreds  of  them. 
Sometimes  you  will  be  driven  to  the  use  of  other 
books  for  material,  such  as  a  history  or  even  an 
algebra  or  the  Bible.    Copious  exercises  is  the  word. 

A  natural  approach  is  to  take  a  preliminary  sur- 
vey of  the  different  parts  of  speech  in  this  order: 
nouns,  pronouns,  adjectives,  verbs,  adverbs,  preposi- 
tions, conjunctions.  It  may  be  well  to  leave  infini- 
tives and  participles  till  later.  This  kind  of  work 
goes  swimmingly.  When  the  lesson  is  all  about 
adjectives  it  is  easy  to  select  thorn.  Even  long  verb 
phrases  can  be  picked  out  handily  when  the  lesson 
is  all  about  verbs.  Be  warned  that  this  is  mere  seem- 
ing, and  that  when  you  mix  things  up  the  class  will 
seem  to  have  got  nowhere  at  all. 

"A  pronoun  is  a  word  used  in  place  of  a  noun." 


100  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Very  well.  Then  the  italicized  words  in  the  follow- 
ing are  pronouns:  "Each  had  his  knapsack",  "One 
never  knows  his  own  faults."  Next  we  learn  that 
"  An  adjective  is  a  word  that  modifies  a  noun  or  pro- 
noun, ' '  and  we  tackle  the  sentence :  ' '  Each  man  ran 
for  the  other  side."  Since  we  are  concentrating  on 
adjectives,  we  shall  probably  get  fair  results  with 
each  and  other.  But  now  we  review  a  mix-up  of  pro- 
nouns and  adjectives,  encountering:  "Each  one  had 
thought  the  others  were  lying  about  that  other 
boat."  Protests  will  be  heard.  "Yesterday  we 
called  each  a  pronoun."  "The  book  says  that  each 
is  a  pronoun." 

You  think  that  you  will  drive  them  to  cover  thus : 
"Yes,  but  what  is  a  pronoun?  How  is  one  used?  It 
doesn't  modify  some  understood  noun,  does  it?  You 
couldn't  say  'each  one  man/  could  you?  No.  So  it 
stands  for  a  noun,  then?  Exactly.  And  what  is  a 
pronoun?  Then  one  must  be  a  pronoun?  What  does 
each  do?  Modifies  one.  Any  word  that  modifies  a 
pronoun  is  a — what?    So  each  is  an  adjective." 

Isn't  it  easy?  It  is  also  easy  to  go  through  the 
rigmarole  tomorrow,  and  next  week,  and  next  month. 
I  have  known  bright  boys  to  need  a  repetition  after 
five  months  of  almost  daily  megaphoning  the  same 
old  idea.  It  seems  a  notion  contrary  to  normal 
mental  processes.  'A  spade  is  a  spade.  If  you  use 
it  for  poking  the  fire  it  doesn't  become  a  poker.  A 
word  ought  in  the  nature  of  things  to  be  something. 
This  calling  it  one  thing  today  and  another  tomorrow 
is  not  fair. 

How  is  it  used  in  the  sentence?  Start  out  strong 
with"  that,  and  never  let  up.  If  a  pupil,  unprompted, 
by  good  headwork,   argues   that   one  modifies   an 


TEACHING  GRAMMAR  101 

understood  noun,  and  so  is  an  adjectivt',  he  blight  to 
be  commended.  It  could  be  so  classified  and  taught. 
Even  in  the  case  of  others,  where  an  $  is  added  that 
never  is  added  to  an  adjective,  it  is  better — early  in 
the  course,  that  is — to  commend  for  a  piece  of  real 
reasoning  than  to  discredit  for  not  taking  the  s  into 
account.  But  when  your  system  has  been  clearly 
announced,  made  clear  by  practice,  then  the  reasoner 
must  bow  to  the  needs  of  uniformity. 

You  come  to  adverbs.  "An  adverb  is  a  word  that 
modifies  a  verb,  an  adjective,  or  another  adverb.' ' 
Shortly  you  come  upon :  * ■  He  got  almost  into  port. ' f 
The  pupil  reciting  finds  no  adverb,  and  argues  that 
almost  modifies  into,  which  is  neither  verb,  adjective, 
nor  adverb.  Give  him  a  cheer.  A  more  stupid  child 
could  have  guessed  that  almost  modified  got.  The 
fact  is  that  we  really  feel  that  it  was  "almost 
into,"  and  not  "almost  got."  I  think  the  definition 
needs  extension. 

It  is  as  hard  to  define  a  preposition  as  to  state 
formally  which  your  right  hand  is,  yet  it  is  almost  as 
easy  to  distinguish  between  an  adverb  and  a  prepo- 
sition as  between  right  and  left.    Ajerepfisilion  is 

BUSpici0U8ly  like  ftn  adverb;  if  inHipwfftg  \\rt\t\}  plnrww 

<  u .,  but  it  always  has  an  object;  "That  was  inat  like 
him^V77!  sat  next  the  door."  It  is  well  to  insist 
that  a  preposition  never  modifies  anything;  it  is  the 
prepositional  phrase  that  modifies. 

A  preliminary  skirmish  with  conjunctions  is  bond 
to  be  unsatisfactory.  The  coordinating  kind  are 
easy,  but  the  subordinating — those  connectives  that 
join  clauses  to  single  words — are  a  large  subject  and 
are  not  apprehended  until  after  a  good  deal  of  work 
with  clauses— of  which  more  anon. 


102  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

•The'Knrst  'time  over"  work  you  must  make  clear 
to  the  class  is  just  sucli  a  general  glance  as  a  stranger 
in  a  big  city  might  take  by  long  street-car  rides,  or 
an  explorer  would  try  to  get  from  some  high  hill. 
You  could  learn  more  rapidly  about  a  maze  of  streets 
or  a  jungle  if  you  first  got  a  general  idea  of  the  lay 
of  the  land. 

One  text,  by  an  able  man,  proceeds  from  general 
notions  of  subject  and  predicate  to  particular  syntax. 
Some  able  men  do  not  believe  in  diagraming.  Hardly 
one  point  in  this  chapter  but  is  controverted  or  dif- 
ferently handled  by  a  longer  experience  than  mine. 
You  will  every  week  be  forming  convictions  as  to  how 
you  will  go  to  work  another  year.  That  is  right. 
But  refuse  to  be  guided  by  theories  of  what  ought 
psychologically  to  be  the  best  methods.  Nothing  Is 
so  false  as  a  theory  of  how  minds  may  be  expected 
to  work ;  nothing  is  so  true  as  sympathetic  observa- 
tion of  how  they  actually  have  struggled,  of  how  this 
pedagogic  trick  got  results  and  that  one  failed. 

The  following  job  lot  of  comments,  cautions,  and 
tactics  is  selected  on  the  basis  of:  What  did  I  least 
understand  when  I  began  to  teach? 

The  most  literate  young  mind  I  ever  tried  to  in- 
struct— it  read  Chaucer  late  at  night  and  it  wrote 
masterful  themes — could  not  be  securely  taught  in  a 
whole  year  of  grammar  drill  the  difference  between 
a  direct  object  and  a  nominative  after  to  be.  I 
shouted,  "You  cannot  have  an  object  of  is"  and 
whispered  dramatically,  "There  is  no  such  thing  as 
an  object  of  was."  Even  dull  boys  in  the  class 
learned  to  snicker  with  anticipatory  pleasure  if  this 
lad  was  called  on  to  give  the  construction  of  the  noun 
in  "This  might  have  been  a  palace.' '     To  the  end 


TEACHING  GRAMMAR  103 

he  never  really  conceded  that  the  nouns  after  became 
and  had  been  called  were  not  objects.*  I  know  a 
bright  fellow  who  only  four  years  before  he  became 
a  teacher  in  a  good  preparatory  school  was  still 
prone  to  put  an  accusative  after  sum.  Every  fall 
u ••■  have  a  class  of  small  boys  (corresponding  to  the 
eighth  grade)  who  are  vigorously  bombarded  from 
the  outset  by  forewarned  teachers,  both  of  Latin  and 
English,  with  the  refrain,  "  There  is  no  such  thing 
as  an  object  of  esse",  "To  be  never  can  take  an  ob- 
ject." We  look  forward  with  assurance  to  the  neces- 
sity of  keeping  up  the  fire  for  months.  This  is  an 
unco  thing  in  pedagogy.  There  must  be  a  better  way 
to  teach  predicate  nominative.  If  you  can  discover 
tlio  way,  you  will  benefit  mankind. 

That  word  after  the  verb  always  looks  like  an  ob- 
jeet  "Up  flew  the  windows.' '  The  best  formula 
to  rescue  windows  from  that  secret  power  that 
"flew"  them  is  to  insist  on  answering  the  question, . 
"Who  or  what  flew!"  Insist  that  before  a  pupil 
recites  (it  requires  only  a  second  or  two)  he  shall 

ask  himself  the  question,  "Who  or  what ?"    If 

y<»u  are  told  that  in  "Down  sank  the  Koyal  George" 
Royal  George  is  the  object  of  sank,  put  your  in- 
formant through  this  catechism:  "WTiat  question 
di<l  you  ask  yourself?  Well,  who  or  what  did  sink! 
Then  what  is  the  subject  of  sinkl  Then  in  what  case 
ifl  Royal  George  ?"  If  you  keep  unflaggingly  at  this, 
yoB  will  be  doing  more  for  that  group  of  young 
brains  than  merely  showing  them  about  a  subject 
nominative. 

inative  absolute  (as  in  "the  weather  being 

•(Don't  infer  from  that  masterful  tlieme- writer 's  case  that  gram- 
mati<  :il  training  is  not  of  value  for  composition.    Suspend  judgment.) 


< 


4 


104  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

fine")  can  be  handled  with  double  effect  after  some 
study  of  participles.  It  is  doubtful  whether  it  should 
be  taken  up  before. 

The  possessive  as  an  object  of  of  ("that  whim 
of  my  father's")  is  a  queer  thing.  Announce  that 
it  is  queer.  For  once  the  object  of  a  preposition  is 
not  in  the  objective  case. 

The  clue  to  an  indirect  oh ject  is  that  it  expresses 
"to  or  for  whom"  without  a  preposition.  If  "he 
handed  me  the  card,"  me  is  an  indirect  object;  if 
"he  handed  the  card  to  me"  me  is  the  object  of  to. 
This  is  confusing  to  children  who  have  been  studying 
the  Latin  dative. 

An  objective  predicate  ("They  made  him  king") 
always  occurs  with  a  direct  object,  showing  what  that 
object  was  made  to  be,  was  called,  etc. 

Aji  adverbial  objective  ("We  walked  a  mile")  is 
usually  a  measure.  "Do  it  some  other  way"  is  an- 
other species.  Consider  the  two  cases :  "We  weighed 
a  pound  of  sand  ",  "  The  sand  weighed  a  pound. ' '  In 
the  first  the  pound  is  being  weighed ;  in  the  second 
pound  merely  shows  how  much. 

An  appositive  is  "  set  alongside  a  noun  or  pronoun 
to  explain  it7>;  it  is  usually  set  off  by  commas ;  it  is 
1 '  adponoed ' '  to  that  other  noun  or  pronoun. 

Personal  and  demonstrative  pronouns  give  no  par- 
ticular trouble,  except  for  the  two  peculiar  uses  of 
it.  Expletive  it  is  a  dummy  subject;  the  real 
subject  lurks  on  the  other  side  of  the  verb.  Imper- 
sonal it  has  no  conceivable  antecedent;  there  is 
no  other  subject.  The  only  kink  with  inter rogatives 
is,  "You  can't  know  the  construction  until  you  have 
put  the  question  into  the  form  of  a  statement." 
"Who  are  you?"  becomes  "You  are  who."    Then 


TEACHING  GRAMMAR  103 

we  see  that  "who  is  the  object  of  are,"  and  are  later 
led  to  see  that  it  is  predicate  nominative. 

But  relatives!  Suppose  yourself,  in  a  rather  em- 
barrassing situation  in  which  you  are  anxious  to 
appear  to  advantage,  confronted  with  this  demand: 
4 '  l-'orm  a  congeries  of  postulates  so  arranged  that 
number  two,  in  which  number  one  is  involved  in  a 
limiting  capacity,  shall  be  involved  in  a  limiting 
capacity  in  number  three,  which  is  to  be  unin- 
volved."  There  is  nothing  hard  about  that,  because 
you  have  a  complete  set  of  linguistic  notions  into 
which  you  can  promptly  transpose  these  not  unusual 
terms  and,  unless  you  are  pitifully  flustered,  can  ful- 
fill the  demand  in  an  instant.  Yet  the  scholastic  in- 
tangibility of  it,  if  you  can  imagine  it  thrust  upon 
Borne  mature  mind  that  had  educated  itself  without 
knowledge  of  dependent  clauses,  may  feebly  illus- 
trate the  lack  of  appeal  which  "relative  clause* • 
makes  to  the  average  fourteen-year-old  boy. 

Draw  a  picture  for  him.  It  was  in  my  third  year 
of  teaching  that  I  rushed  to  the  board,  in  a  desperate 
mood,  wrote  in  huge  letters  "THE  MAN  HAS 
GONE,"  and  then,  inside  a  loop  connected  to 
man,  wrote  in  small  letters  "who  was  here."  There 
was  a  graphic  exhibit  of  the  bigness  and  in- 
dependence of  the  main  clause,  and  the  small,  ad- 
jectival l»<>ndage  of  the  relative  clause.  I  have  used 
it  ever  since. 

This,  like  other  eccentric  schemes  suggested  in 
these  pages,  may  not  appeal  to  you.  A  man  to  whom 
I  am  mucli  indebted  once  told  me  of  a  device  which 
did  not  strike  me  favorably.  I  can't  use  it  But  I 
should  certainly  have  taken  it  up — should  have  taken 
up  anything— if  I  had  not  had  another. 


106  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Keep  constantly  before  the  class  the  essential  idea 
that  a  clause  contains  a  subject  and  verb,  and  is  ijse*!^ 
like  a  single  adjective,  or  a  single  adverb,  or  a  single 
noun;  that  relative  clauses  are  adjective  clauses,  be- 
cause they  are  always  attached  to,  always  modify, 
some  noun  or  pronoun.  Whenever  you  can  make  a 
pupil  perceive  this  clearly  you  have  conferred  upon 
him  a  priceless  gift — a  bit  more  courage  in  tackling 
Shakespeare's  sentences. 

You  will  moil  in  vain  in  the  opening  days  with  re- 
latives unless  you  follow  the  plan  (or  its  equivalent 
in  some  shape)  of  "picking  out  the  relative  clause.' ' 
"What  is  the  clause?'7  must  be  the  unfailing  ques- 
tion. Consider  "He  who  hesitates  is  lost."  The  he 
and  the  who  are  forever  going  to  be  entangled  until 
the  pupil  learns  to  ' '  take  that  clause  out  of  the  sen- 
tence, ' '  and  to  put  it  one  side,  like  a  dissected  organ, 
and  then — never  till  then — to  examine  its  functions. 
At  first  your  class  will  dig  out  "who  hesitates  is" 
and  hold  it  up,  all  dripping,  for  scrutiny.  Insist  that 
we  must  have  only  one  leg — not  a  leg + half  a  body. 
Which  is,  being  interpreted,  one  subject  and  one 
verb,  with  their  modifiers.  (Or  at  first  you  may  prac- 
tice on  bare  subject  and  verb.) 

When  this  dissection  can  be  performed,  then  you 
may  unfold  the  precious  truth  that  the  construction 
of  a  relative  is  always  found  in  its  clause,  never  is 
mixed  in  the  least  with  any  shred  of  the  sentence 
outside  that  clause.  After  driving  this  home  you 
may  cautiously  take  the  next  step:  A  relative's 
gender,  person,  and  number  are  always  found  en- 
tirely outside  of  the  clause — i.  e.,  they  depend  on  the 
antecedent. 

A  pupil  can  decide  whether  that  is  a  relative  by 


TEACHING  GRAMMAR  107 

fading  out  whether  it  makes  sense  to  substitute 
n-int  nr  uifiirh  So  far  as  I  know  it  is  never  safe  to 
trust  him  to  decide  in  any  other  way. 

Relatives  always  scm  to  a  class  to  be  in  apposi- 
tion with  the  antecedents.  The  answer  is  that  they 
are  not  *  *  put  alongside  of  in  the  same  construction," 
but  are  subjects  or  objects,  are  not  in  any  sense 
appositives. 

Have  nothing  to  do  with  sub-classes  of  adjectives. 
The  use  of  classifying  at  all  (and  the  same  is  true 
of  adverbs)  is  slight.  But  it  is  necessary  to  get  at 
the  distinction,  between  an  adverb  and  a  predicate 
adjective.  If  you  are  discussing ' '  The  heavens  grew 
dark,"  don't  argue  that  "dark  is  an  adjective." 
Dark  is  nothing  per  se.  How  is  it  used?  It  doesn't 
describe  the  way  in  which  the  heavens  grew;  they 
didn't  grow  in  a  dark  manner.  They  grew  to  be 
dark.    So  of  seem,  appear,  look,  become,  etc. 

Waste  no  energy  over  such  a  retained  preposition 
as  "This  is  being  talked  about."  Never  allow  it  to 
be  called  a  part  of  the  verb  phrase;  if  it  must  be 
spoken  of,  it  is  more  like  an  adverb— it  has  no  object. 
Reserve  your  time  and  energy  for  the  obvious  prepo- 
sitional use  in  "What  are  you  talking  about?" 

Transitive  and  intransitive  is  one  of  the  throe  de- 
cisive battles  of  grammar.  It  Is  so  bound  up~with 
predicate  nominative  that  it  is  a  good  plan  to  sand- 
wieh  the  two  topics.  The  worst  cause  of  stumbling 
he  definition,  often  taught  in  schools,  that  a  tran- 
sit Lve  verb  is  one  which  takes  an  object.  Excom- 
municate it.  Pronounce  a  formal  anathema  against 
the  cursed  thing.  A  transitive  verb  in  the  active 
voice  always  has  an  object,  but  never  allow  the  mat- 
feer  of  "an  object"  to  be  associated  with  "transi- 


108  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

live."    I  keep  the  following  scheme  on  the  board 
every  day  and  require  the  class  to  refer  to  it  as  they 
recite : 
Transitive 

active — always  an  object. 

passive — subject  is  acted  on,  no  object. 
Intransitive 

subject  acts,  but  there  is  no  object. 

No  Voice. 

Grammarians  regularly  speak  of  intransitives  as 
active,  but  this  is  so  confusing  in  elementary  work, 
so  destructive  of  the  very  distinction  we  are  erect- 
ing, that  it  is  best  to  insist  on  "has  no  voice' '  for 
class  work. 

An  active  verb  is  considered  a  normal,  decent  kind. 
Passives  and  intransitives  are  confused.  The  steps 
to  take  in  every  approach  are : 

(1)  What  is  the  subject?  All  is  hopeless  guess- 
work without  this  beginning. 

(2)  Is  the  subject  acting,  or  being  acted  on? 

(3)  If  it  is  acting,  is  there  an  object? 

Don't  analyze  verb  phrases  into  component  parts. 
In  "This  might  easily  have  been  sooner  finished" 
might  have  been  finished  is  the  verb. 

Attack  the  conjugations  thus :  Apply  the  three  fol- 
lowing tests ;  if  any  one  fits,  the  verb  is  regular ;  if 
no  one  fits,  it  is  irregular.  (1)  The  past  tense  ends 
in  a  d  or  t  which  is  not  in  the  present  (made,  had, 
brought).  (2)  The  principal  parts  are  the  same 
throughout  (hit).  (3)  The  vowel  is  merely  shortened 
in  the  past  (bleed).  The  subject  is  a  non-essential, 
not  worth  going  into  detail  with;  but  the  general 
notion  is  useful. 

Subjunctive  mood  really  exists  in  English  in  a  few 


TEACHING  GRAMMAR  109 

formal  or  archaic  uses  like  **if  it  were",  "may  it 
be",  "though  he  have."  These  are  real  variations 
in  form  to  show  that  the  verbs  express  mere  coudi 
tion  or  thought.  Beyond  this  there  is  only  a  welter 
of  subtleties,  a  flux  of  contradictory  opinion.  If  left 
to  your  own  devices,  have  nothing  to  do  with  any- 
thing but  the  few  realities.  If  you  are  required  to 
teach  subjunctives,  stick  to  one  simple  formula :  Does  . 
it  clearly  indicate  a  mere  condition  of  thought? 
Many  cases  are  debatable ;  there  are  fewer  subjunc- 
tives than  you  may  suppose.  Probably  the  following 
are  indicative:  "I  could  have  shot  it  with  perfect 
ease"  (=the  fact  is  that  I  had  power  to),  "I  may 
be  wrong  about  this"  (=the  fact  is  that  there  is  such 
a  possibility),  "Perhaps  you  would  like  to  stay" 
(=the  fact  perhaps  really  is  that).  The  following 
would  usually  be  called  subjunctive,  because  they 
clearly  show,  or  the  context  shows,  that  the  verb  is 
qoI  indicating  a  fact:  "If  only  I  could  have  shot  it", 
"I  might  have  gone  to  bed  sooner",  "Wouldn't  he 
have  enjoyed  that!"  Few  will  ever  object  to  your 
method  if  you  limit  subjunctives  to:  (1)  real  sub- 
junctive by  its  form,  (2)  mere  prayerful  hope  or 
exhortation  that  does  not  sound  the  least  like  fact,- 
(3)  a  condition  that  is  clearly  a  case  of  speaking 
abonl  what  would  be  true  if  the  facts  were  otherwise. 

Infinitives  and  participles  must  come  last,  because 
they  are  resemblance-words,  with  no  new  character- 
istic of  tlx'ir  own;  and  work  with  them  is  really  im- 
possible until  their  prototypes  are  understood.  They 
are  words  derived  from  verbs,  having  all  the  powers 
except  the  great  one  of  making  a  statement,  and 
used  like  nouns  and  adjectives. 

Any  verbal  used  like  a  noun  is  an  infinitive:  to 


\ 


110  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

do,  doing,  to  have  been  done  (unless  you  de- 
cide to  distinguish  gerunds).  The  essential  of  all 
drill  with  infinitives  is  to  explain  their  constructions 
as  nouns.  * '  Complementary ' '  is  worse  than  nothing 
in  English  grammar.  "Used  like  an  adjective' '  (as 
in  "the  thing  to  do")  is  a  sledge-hammer  for  batter- 
ing the  foundations  you  have  so  laboriously  laid.  An 
infinitive  is  always  a  kind  of  noun.  These  so-called 
adjectival  and  adverbial  uses  can  always  be  ex- 
plained as  phrases  in  which  the  root  infinitive  is  the 
object  of  to.  The  working  formula  for  pupils  is: 
Does  it  make  fairly  good  sense  to  substitute  for  and 
the  ing  form?  "That  is  a  queer  thing  to  do"  be- 
comes "That  is  a  queer  thing  for  doing" ;  "He  went 
to  die  for  his  country"  becomes  "He  went  for  dying, 
for  the  purpose  of  dying."  This  analysis  is  likely 
to  become  a  favorite — it  is  so  easy.  It  must  not  be 
allowed  unless  it  can  be  defended  by  getting  a  "fair- 
ly sensible"  result.  Don't  accept  this  "object  of 
to ' '  analysis  when  another  kind  is  possible.  In  "It 
seems  queer  to  have  been  loafing  here  all  summer" 
to  have  been  loafing  is  the  real  or  "logical"  subject 
of  seems.  In  "He  is  to  die  in  the  morning"  to  die 
may  be  called  a  predicate  nominative. 

All  grammars  discuss  "subject  of  the  infinitive," 
and  most  are  partial  to  it.  I  refused  to  teach  it  for. 
many  years,  following  Whitney's  analysis;  later 
thought  it  might  be  the  easy  explanation  for  many 
cases,  especially  with  verbs  of  commanding  and  the 
like;  but  have  finally  decided  against  it.  "Subject 
of  the  infinitive"  is  a  Latinism.  In  "He  asked  me  to 
go"  we  do  not  feel  that  me  is  a  subject;  we  feel  it  as 
an  object.  If  we  discard  "subject  of  the  infinitive," 
we  do  not  have  to  contort  so  many  English  ideas  to 


TEACHING  QRAMMAB  111 

.  Latin  framework.    In  "  We  considered  him  to  be 

honest"  him  is  the  real  object;  to  be  is  a  kind  of  ob- 

tive  predicate.    In  "ge  urged  us  to  go"  to  go  is 

the  object ;  us  is  indirect.    In  '  *  He  made  me  eat ' '  eat 

is  objective  predicate,  like  "He  made  me  an  eater." 

Probably  ten  per  cent  of  these  analyses  of  infini- 
tives  are  not  real  analyses — i.  e.,  they  don't  really 
explain  anything.  Say  as  much  to  your  class  occa- 
sionally. Our  language  is  full  of  old  worn-down 
stubs  and  metamorphosed  fragments  of  idioms  which 
cannot  be  neatly  arranged  in  a  cabinet  as  Latin 
specimens  can.  School  work  in  grammar  is  not  con- 
cerned with  these  except  as  interesting  curios.  They 
are  specially  numerous  in  infinitive  syntax. 

The  same  kind  of  statement  is  true  of  participles. 
They  are  always  used  like  adjectives.  To  say  that 
a  participle  has  an  object  or  is  modified  by  an  adverb 
clause  is  nothing  to  the  purpose.  What  noun  or  pro- 
noun does  it  modify?  Not  "How  is  it  acted  on?" 
but  "How  does  it  act?" 

So  much  for  single  words;  now  for  phrases  and 
clauses. 

It  is  best  to  reserve  "phrase"  for  a  preposition 
and  its  object.*  To  call  "running  at  high  speed"  a 
phrase  is  misleading,  or  at  least  is  such  a  generality- 
haze  as  makes  travel  difficult.  If  you  call  "the  sun 
having  risen"  a  phrase,  you  won't  confuse  a  gram- 
marian: hut  you  will  not  light  the  paths  for  un- 
aoquainted  t 

In  the  same  way  it  is  more   effective  to  reserve 

•This   sounds   *Ike  a   deviation    from   the   definition   given   by  all 
grammarians,    but   is   not   really    much   of    a   departure    from    I 
practice.    Whitney,  for  example,  discusses  nominative  absolutes  with- 
out  onee  using  " phrase,"   and   employs  the   word   only    m   "verb 
phrase"  and  "prepositional  phrase 


112  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

" clause' '  for  dependent  clause.  "Main  clause"  is 
not  confusing.  Teach  them  in  connection  with  con- 
junctions. A  coordinating  conjunction  joins  two 
nouns  or  two  adjectives  or  two  phrases  or  two 
clauses,  yokes  them  as  a  pair,  one  being  as  important 
as  the  other.  A  subordinating  conjunction  joins  a 
clause  to  some  one  word.  You  may  never  make  real 
progress  until  you  write  out  that  main  clause  in 
huge  letters  and  then,  in  a  loop  extending  from  the 
modified  word,  write  the  clause  in  small  letters.  In 
the  case  of  subject  clauses  used  after  an  expletive  it 
("It  is  not  likely  that  he  will  come")  the  conjunction 
does  no  real  conjoining,  unless  you  say  that  it  hitches 
an  appositive  clause  to  it.  The  truth  of  this  is 
doubtful. 

One  oddity  may  be  worth  mention  in  this  connec- 
tion, just  on  the  chance  that  it  might  prevent  an 
embarrassing  moment  in  class.  "I  am  told  that  he 
is  ill."  That  he  is  ill  is  a  "retained  object,"  like 
"He  was  given  a  medal." 

Some  are  not  in  favor  of  diagraming  the  structure 
of  a  sentence.  One  teacher  who  has  critically  ob- 
served results  in  a  long  experience  declares  that 
boys  learn  the  trick  of  making  a  passable  diagram 
without  acquiring  any  true  understanding  of  struc- 
ture. That  phenomenon  is  something  I  have  never 
seen.  Allow  me  to  illustrate  from  algebra.  A  boy 
might  learn  to  "diagram"  the  cube-root  process,  and 
then,  by  rote,  without  intelligence,  apply  his  formula 
and  his  blocks  to  any  number  of  different  problems 
in  extracting  cube-root.  He  cannot  learn  any  such 
formula  for  the  solution  of  miscellaneous  problems 
leading  to  simultaneous  equations.  Each  one  is  a 
separate  exercise  in  diagraming  by  the  use  of  x,  y, 


TEACHING  GRAMMAR  113 

and  z  the  conditions  named,  under  which  two  or 
three  men  run  races  or  give  away  their  money.  Have 
you  ever  heard  that  a  boy  learned  the  trick  of  arriv- 
ing at  his  equations — his  diagram,  that  is — without 
a  corresponding  apprehension  of  what  he  was  doing? 
Of  course  there  is  such  a  thing  as  brainless  luck  occa- 
sionally, even  in  stating  problems;  but  only 
occasionally. 

It  is  difficult  not  to  believe  that  when  a  pupil  can  t 
sort  out  clauses  and  phrases  and  put  them  where  I 
they  belong  in  a  schematic  arrangement,  he  shows  a  j 
useful  mental  attainment — specially  useful  for  his 
writing. 

The  best  diagram  is  the  one  that  most  simply  dis- 
plays the  real  Structure  of  a  sentence.  The  plan  fol- 
lowed in  the  illustration  below  is  to  put  the  principal 
verb  below  its  subject,  to  list  all  modifiers  under  the 
words  they  modify,  and  to  place  appositives,  predi- 
cate nominatives,  and  objects  at  the  right  of  the 
words  that  govern  them.    The  sentence  is : 

4  *  That  same  night  of  your  desertion  I  came  from 
a  friend's  house — where  I  was  excessively  admired, 
whatever  you  may  think  of  it — and  what  should  I 
hear  but  that  a  lass  in  a  tartan  screen  desired  to 
speak  with  me. ' ' 

Begin  with  easy  sentences.  Don't  be  in  a  rush  to 
progress  to  hard  ones. 

In  all  your  irrnmmar  work  emphasize  at  every 
opportunity  that  you  aim  at  practical,  useful  results, 
that  mere  puzzles  are  not  dwelt  on.  Perhaps  while 
you  are  dealing  with  verb  phrases  some  pupil  will 
write  "it*  he  had  of  been."  There  is  your  chance. 
Aim  at  the  essentials.  In  parsing  don't  waste  time 
with  classes  and  panders  and  inflections.    If  time  is 


114 


WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 


short,  it  is  better  to  know  unfalteringly  what  an  in- 
transitive verb  is  than  to  have  hazy  ideas  about  in- 
flection of  the  future  perfect,  potential  mood,  parti- 
ciples in  n  as  a  mark  of  the  old  conjugation — and  all 
the  myriad  of  formalisms.  Keep  perpetually  before 
you  that  vision  of  better  sentences. 
I 


came 


'that  same  night 

• 

of  your  desertion, 

from  a  friend's  house 

1% 

I  was  admired 

- 

(excessively 

obj. 
whatever 

# 

|  you  may  think  i 

of  it 

i 

should  hear  what 

£ 

\<*                     obj. 

i  lass  desired  to  speak 

with  me 

in  a  tartan  screen 

A  heavy  line  ^ 
clauses  are  used. 

rill   show   graphically 

how  noun 

we           fe 

object 

ar           that 

you            will            not 

1 i  k  e             it 

appositive 

obj. 

CHAPTER  VI 

JOHN    WILSON'S  IDEA 

The  teaching  of  punctuation  can  be  made  to  serve  , 
i  higher  end  than  mere  accuracy  in  using  points; 
!i  be  made  to  cause  a  betterment  in  the  quality 
of  sentences,  an  enhancement  in  maturity  and  agree- 
ableness  of  form.  The  claim  sounds  extravagant. 
It  seems  at  first  view  like  a  paradox  to  say  that  in- 
>t nation  in  placing  commas*  will  refine  the  writing 
of  sentences.  As  a  theory  no  one  could  accept  it. 
But  it  is  a  truth,  proved  by  long  experience,  arrived 
at  unexpectedly,  found  as  a  lucky  by-product  of  a 
process  that  used  to  be  thought  too  mean  for  noble 
minds.  The  fact  is  that  after  training  in  syntax  a 
thorough  course  in  punctuation  does  more  to  improve 
the  quality  of  a  n  <  !m<  n-  pupil's  sentences  than  any 
amount  of  spiritual  exhortation. 

Just  why  this  should  be  so  is  hard  to  say.  One 
probable  reason  is  that  in  our  headlong,  impatient 
erica  it  is  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  a  pupil  to 
have  to  do  something  exactly  right.  We  hear  the 
despairing  cry  from  every  school  and  college  that  our 
yoigng  people  are  careless,  incapable  of  concentrating 
accurately,  unable  to  enunciate,  unable  to  phrase 
definite  answers,  unable  to  compose  by  a  prede- 
termined plan.  In  1!H4  the  Harvard  Board  of  ( Over- 
seers ?ote<d  that  "the  faculty  be  requested  to  devise 
suitable  measures  to  remedy  this  condition  of  af- 
fairs"—  the   condition,    namely,    of   the    failure   of 


116  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

students  "to  write  correct  and  idiomatic  English.' ' 
The  Graduate  School  of  Business  Administration  of 
Harvard  reported  in  the  same  year  that  only  21  per 
cent  of  its  students  (all  of  them  college  graduates) 
received  a  passing  mark  when  their  reports  were 
graded  as  English,  and  that  these  were  nearly  all 
C's;  but  only  one  year  later,  as  the  result  of  "ex- 
plicit directions  for  writing,"  60  per  cent  passed. 
That  is  always  the  requirement  if  instruction  is 
really  to  instruct — that  it  be  specific.  A  dramatic 
coach  who  says  "Act !  Why,  you  must  act  the  part !" 
gets  no  result.  A  composition  teacher  who  says 
"Write  decently"  gets  no  result.  We  must  specify 
what  is  to  be  done.  Nor  is  it  sufficient  to  lay  down 
a  set  of  rules.  They  will  accomplish  nothing  at  all. 
It  is  specific  work  with  unpunctuated  sentences  that 
brings  improvement  in  style.  I  should  guess  that 
the  brain-process  is  one  of  gaining  familiarity  with 
a  great  variety  of  sentence-forms,  of  getting  a  prac- 
tical, definite  acquaintance  with  the  elements  of  a 
lot  of  types  which  the  pupil  would  not  adopt  from 
his  reading,  but  which  he  does  learn  to  imitate  after 
he  has  been  forced  into  intimacy  with  them.  Pupils 
are  Egyptians  in  bondage  required  to  make  brick; 
punctuation  furnishes  some  straw. 

I  am  no  psychologist  and  vouch  for  no  explana- 
tion, but  I  do  vouch  for  the  fact  of  experience.  Year 
after  year  I  have  watched  results  similar  to  this: 
Peterkin  has  no  understanding  of  the  difference  be- 
tween one  sentence  and  two  sentences ;  he  is  given  a 
drill-book  which  takes  him  step  by  step,  with  plenty 
of  colloquial  comment  and  illustration,  through  some 
six  hundred  unpunctuated  sentences  culled  mostly 
from  periodicals  and  novels;    he  flounders  dread- 


JOHN  WILSON'S  IDEA  117 

fully,  because  he  " never  had  any  of  the  darned  stuff 
before ' ' ;  he  goes  through  it  all  a  second  time ;  there- 
after he  writes  fairly  respectable  sentences.  Granted 
thai  this  process  puts  his  soul  in  a  treadmill,  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  when  he  gets  through  the  mill 
his  appearance  on  paper  is  much  more  that  of  an 
educated  gentleman. 

It  is  instruction  in  the  framing  and  pointing  of 
sentences  that  counts.  In  proportion  as  you  dwell 
on  sentence-structure,  enforcing  only  the  simplest 
and  most  general  requirements  for  paragraphing, 
you  will  have  success.  This  is  not  the  place  to  argue 
that  statement,  but  I  will  cite  two  witnesses  in  sup- 
port of  it,  the  two  most  effective  rhetorics  in  the 
market.  The  1912  edition  of  one  increased  its  un- 
punctuated  sentences  five  times;  the  preface  spoke 
of  "the  recent  change  of  emphasis  from  the  para- 
graph to  the  sentence.' '  The  other,  whose  1910 
<<  lit  ion  had  an  unusually  large  proportion  of  un- 
punctuated  matter,  trebled  this  large  proportion  in 
li>  14.  This  signifies  something,  is  not  an  accident. 
You  must  know  what  is  now  going  on  in  this  change- 
able world  of  English,  else  you  may  be  badly  ham- 
pered by  starting  with  antiquated  ideas  that  will 
Interfere  with  your  progress.  A  Yale  professor  of 
literature  was  recently  asked  what  the  college  would 
like  most  stress  put  upon  in  the  schools.  "The  sen- ' \ 
tence"  was  his  unqualified  answer. 

Of  course  there  are  elements  of  good  sentences 
that  punctuation  never  touches,  but  it  may  almost 
be  said  that  these  are  beyond  the  reach  of  anything 
but  native  talent.  Variety  of  forms  is  directly  stimu 
lated,  and  unity  is  much  emphasized.  Suppose,  how- 
ever, for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  the  pointing  of 


r 


118  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

other  people's  sentences  gives  no  training  in  any 
quality  of  force  or  beauty.  The  greatest  considera- 
tion has  not  been  hinted  at  in  that  admission.  The 
point  to  be  attended  to  is  this :  If  you  should  classify 
the  illiterate  blunders  in  a  million  words  of  college- 
entrance  composition,  excluding  mistakes  of  spelling 
and  syntax,  you  would  find  that  the  great  majority 
were  of  just  the  sort  that  the  study  of  punctuation 
tends  to  eradicate.  I  read  each  year  more  than  two 
million  words  of  school  themes,  have  been  for  eight- 
een years  classifying  errors  and  studying  remedies, 
have  observed  what  works  and  what  does  not,  have 
never  had  any  fondness  for  theories,  have  not  the 
slightest  affection  for  commas — and  I  affirm  without 
any  hesitation  that  punctuation  drill  is  what  pro- 
duces decent  sentences.  The  condition  is  similar  to 
what  we  discovered  about  spelling:  that  the  million 
errors  are  not  a  million  at  all,  but  a  few  hundred 
common  forms  incessantly  reappearing.  So  of  sen- 
tence-structure :  it  is  not  a  case  of  a  million  clumsi- 
nesses, but  of  a  few  dozen  common  punctuation 
blunders  that  incessantly  recur.  And  just  as  inten- 
sive spelling  will  remove  the  great  bulk  of  offensive 
ignorance,  so  the  greater  part  of  sentence-crudeness 
will  disappear  after  thorough  work  in  pointing. 

How  does  the  ordinary  rhetoric  address  itself  to 
this  labor?  By  trying  to  persuade  you  and  the  pupils 
that  nobody  cares  much  about  those  arbitrary  sym- 
bols. If  it  is  a  text  that  makes  an  honest  effort,  it  is 
probably  sprinkled  with  untruths.  "Two  words  in 
apposition  should  not  be  separated  by  a  comma"  is 
the  first  rule  in  a  200-page  manual  that  I  had  to  use 
for  many  years.  "Most  of  the  slight  pauses  requir- 
ing a  mark  will  be  properly  served  by  the  comma" 


JOHN  WILSON'S  IDEA  119 

is  from  a  book  containing  much  good  analysis  and 
sound  advice.  Another  widely-used  text  requires  the 
pupil  to  state  "What  kind  of  pause  the  author  indi- 
cates by  a  comma."  The  ordinary  text  is  a  morgue 
for  the  corpses  of  what  were  once  live  truths.  A 
capital  book  issued  in  1912  announces  that  one  use 
of  the  semicolon  is  to  introduce.  Another,  bearing 
on  its  cover  three  mighty  names,  requires  a  comma 
to  separate  a  long  subject  from  its  verb.  *  *  A  colon, ' p 
declares  another  Composition,  "is  used  to  separate 
the  different  members  of  a  compound  sentence,  when 
they  themselves  are  divided  by  semicolons' ' — an 
affirmation  that  contains  only  as  much  truth  as 
"Horse-cars  are  used  to  convey  the  population  of 
New  York  City."  Such  dead  things  do  no  damage; 
they  are  harmless.  But  it  is  harmful  to  teacher  and 
pupil  to  present  them  as  of  equal  importance  with  a 
rule  for  a  comma  before  the  conjunction  but.  For 
their  effect  is  then  to  make  a  school  suppose  that  all 
punctuation  is  as  lifeless  as  themselves. 

In  another  way  the  ordinary  "section"  does  dam- 
age— by  so  misstating  the  simplest  truths  that  pupils 
and  teacher  are  led  to  regard  the  whole  subject  as 
nebulous  and  mystical.  For  example,  "To  the  mind 
of  the  writer,  this  explanation  has  much  to  commend 
it "  is  said  to  deserve  a  comma  because  the  phrase  is 
out  of  its  natural  order ;  yet  such  a  rule  would  call 
for  a  comma  in  "Over  the  door  we  hung  a  horse- 
shoe," where  no  rational  punctuator  now  advises  a 
point  "Commas  are  used  in  a  complex  sentence  to 
separate  the  dependent  clause  from  the  rest  of  the 
Bentenoe."  Yes;  also  commas  are  not  used  for  such 
a  purpose ;  also  if  a  man  is  lost  in  a  city  he  will  find 
his  way  if  he  goes  straight  ahead — or  turns.    Here 


120  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

is  the  most  elusive  subject  in  the  whole  code  (the 
distinction  between  a  restrictive  and  a  non-restric- 
tive clause)  cheerfully  committed  to  one  vacuous  rule 
and  illustrated  by  two  sentences  containing  restric- 
tive clauses !  Then  the  author  adds,  with  an  artless- 
ness  that  all  power  of  sarcasm  is  feeble  against,  "If 
the  connection  is  close,  the  comma  is  usually  omit- 
ted." Of  the  same  astounding  quality  is  the  rule, 
"Commas  are  used  to  separate  the  members  of  a 
compound  sentence  when  they  are  short  or  closely 
connected,"  one  illustration  having  the  adversative 
yet  and  the  other  having  five  very  brief  and  simi- 
lar imperatives  without  any  conjunctions.  Why 
should  we  be  told  when  space  is  precious  that  "the 
dash  is  sometimes  used  with  the  colon"?  It  is  equally 
true  by  modern  canons  that  it  is  poor  taste  to  use  it 
so.  Suppose  that  a  pupil,  having  been  taught  that 
"adjective  phrases  are  set  off  by  commas,"  writes 
"I  bought  a  couple,  of  newspapers";  shall  we  chide 
him  for  knowing  too  much  about  grammar?  It  is 
impossible  to  speak  temperately  of  such  futility 
masquerading  as  instruction. 

We  have  passed  from  untruths  through  chaos. 
The  third  division  of  this  indictment  of  the  ordinary 
"section"  is  its  extreme  brevity  and  resultlessness. 
Even  if  it  presented  only  the  truth,  presented  all  the 
truth,  what  effect  does  such  a  summary  conspectus 
ever  have?  Does  it  really  perform  work  in  the 
minds  of  flesh-and-blood  children?  Does  it  achieve 
the  difficult  task  of  planting  habits,  or  accomplish 
the  miracle  of  extirpating  wrong  habits  ?  If  so,  the 
average  teacher  should  be  enlightened  as  to  how  he 
may  avoid  his  seventy-times-seven  explaining  of  the 
old  familiar  rule,  his  careful  preparation  for  in- 


JOHN  WILSON'S  IDK A  121 

troducing  a  new  one.  If  many  intelligent  pupils  have 
to  be  hounded  for  years  before  they  will  habitually 
place  a  comma  before  an  adversative  conjunction, 
what  infinitesimal  tittle  of  influence  is  imparted  by 
the  following:  "  When  a  series  of  distinct  statements 
all  have  a  common  dependence  on  what  precedes  or 
follows  them,  they  may  be  separated  from  each  other 
by  semicolons  M1  A  formal  law,  stating  in  three  lines 
the  whole  mystery  of  non-restrictive  clauses,  offering 
no  comment,  supporting  itself  by  the  meagerest  illus- 
trations, seems  directed  at  some  eidolon  of  a  student, 
some  pedagogic  abstraction ;  for  mere  human  minds, 
albeit  with  a  literary  bent,  are  likely  to  falter  after 
months  of  drill.  Real  results  in  actual  young  brains 
are  obtained  only  by  protracted  and  earnest  drill — 
the  kind  of  effort  used  by  the  supervisor  of  English 
who  wrote  in  the  English  Journal  for  September, 
1914,  about  " sentence  sense.' '  Experience  had 
taught  her  that  true  instruction  is  warfare,  that  the 
"  section1 '  is  merely  a  colored  poster  advertising  for 
volunteers.  She  said:  "I  wonder  if  other  schools 
have  to  fight  [what  does  the  'section'  know  about 
fighting?]  as  vigorously  [how  much  vigor  is  there  in 
the  'section'?]  as  we  do  to  eradicate  [what  grub- 
bing for  noxious  roots  does  the  'section'  do?]  such 
mistake  as  this :  '  My  little  sister  is  very  pretty  she 
has  light  hair  and  blue  eyes."'  Our  "section" 
either  has  nothing  to  say  about  such  an  unscholarly 
negative  or  disposes  of  it  with  matadorish  grace 
thus :  ' '  The  comma  should  not  be  used  instead  of  a 
semicolon  in  sentences  thus  combined. ' '  What  need 
for  a  "section"  to  declare  bloody  war  and  "wage 
it  unremittingly  for  several  years"?  No  need  what- 
ever.   The  "section"  has  merely  to  wave  its  wand 


122  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

and  say,  "Be  tliou  eradicated. ' '  It  deals  only  with 
magic,  using  cryptic  utterances  like  "Sentences 
should  not  be  written  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating 
punctuation*'  or  "You  can  see  from  this  conversa- 
tion of  Tom  and  Maggie,  how  punctuation  marks 
may  suggest  to  the  reader  a  number  of  things." 
(That  comma  after  Maggie  suggests  one  thing  to  at 
least  one  reader.)  In  the  name  of  all  that  is  easy 
and  idyllic  why  should  teachers  countermine  in  the 
trenches  and  charge  with  bayonets  if  the  pleasing 
incantations  of  ' !  sections '  ■  really  effect  any  results  1 

Whence  came  all  these  untruths  and  easy  incanta- 
tions! From  previous  textbooks.  Where  did  those 
authors  get  their  knowledge  and  their  mistakes? 
From  still  earlier  books.  If  we  follow  up  this  cas- 
cade, what  source  do  we  reach!  First  we  shall  come 
upon  Bigelow's  manual,  a  storage  reservoir  that 
irrigated  all  the  punctuational  fields  of  the  country 
in  the  80 's  and  90  's.  Bigelow  was  editorial  proof- 
reader for  the  Riverside  Press,  a  sort  of  Archbishop 
of  Commas  for  his  generation,  whose  influence  went 
everywhere  and  went  deep.  Thousands  of  profes- 
sors and  editors  hold  today  opinions  that  were  first 
fed  by  the  waters  of  his  dicta.  But  he  was  not  a 
source.  He  gave  out  no  more  than  he  received.  The 
stream  runs  back  to  John  Wilson's  Treatise  of  1871. 
Not  that  Wilson  originated  our  usage.  No  man  was 
powerful  enough  to  do  that.  He  often  protests 
against  the  custom  of  his  day,  but  he  records  it  and 
has  to  yield  to  it.  His  Treatise  was  not  a  source  of 
usage,  but  the  one  great  source  of  ready-to-hand  and 
easy-to-copy  exposition  of  usagre. 

Wilson  was  an  analytical  Scotchman,  who  died  in 
1868.    As  a  printer  he  had  ideals ;  as  a  theologian  he 


JOHN  WILSON'S  IDEA  123 

was  a  keen  progressive ;  he  loved  and  helped  to  edit 
Bums;  he  received  an  honorary  degree  from  Har- 
i;  and  all  the  days  of  his  long  life  he  studied 
punctuation.  He  reverenced  his  subject  because  of 
the  assistance  it  could  afford  in  developing  a  clear, 
sound  style.  Unlike  the  makers  of  our  modern 
"sections,"  he  could  honestly  testify  that  in  the 
preparation  of  his  nineteen  editions  in  forty  years 
"little  aid  could  be  derived  from  other  writers.' ' 
His  second  American  edition  in  1855  he  thought 
"the  most  complete  of  any  on  the  subject  that  he 
has  seen."  Not  content  with  having  made  the  best, 
he  continually  amplified,  revising  and  extending  his 
comments,  enforcing  his  precepts  with  many  pages 
of  illustrative  sentences,  and  offering  instruction  by 

cat  many  more  pages  of  unpunctuated  sentences. 
The  twentieth  edition  of  the  Treatise,  brought  out 
three  years  after  his  death,  is  the  great  storehouse 
which  every  succeeding  text-maker  has  pillaged 
without  acknowledgment — often,  no  doubt,  plunder- 
ing at  second  or  third  hand,  and  so  not  even  being 

ire  whence  hit  booty  had  originally  come.  The 
little  manual  that  puts  "not"  in  its  rule  for  apposi- 
tivee  is  sheer  burglary  from  Wilson's  treasures. 
That  absurd  perversion  is  taken  verbatim,  but  the 
editor  had  not  the  wit  to  retain  a  qualifying  clause 
cit*  they  may  be  regarded  as  a  single  phrase") 
which  shows  that    Wilson  conceived  his  rule  as  a 

tement  of  the  exceptional  case.  Wilson  is  also 
responsible  (heaven  only  knows  why  he  phrased  his 
rule  as  he  did)  for  that  commandment  to  "set  off 
adjective  phrases  by  commas."  It  was  Wilson  who 
dragged  others  to  hideous  ruin  down  by  declaring 
that  "two  clauses,  one  depending  on  the  other,  are 


124  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

separated  by  a  comma."  He  could  hardly  have  said 
anything  else  if  he  paid  deference  to  the  facts  of  his 
period.  But  in  his  comments  he  urges  the  avoidance 
of  a  comma  with  a  restrictive  clause.  His  supple- 
mentary exposition  is  always  clear  and  thorough. 
He  maintains  (what  custom  later  overruled,  but  has 
now  returned  to)  that  the  second  comma  should  be 
used  in  John,  James,  and  Harry.  He  perceived  that  a 
comma  ought  not  to  be  placed  between  a  subject  and 
its  verb;  and  he  is  sustained  by  the  best  modern 
usage.  He  announces  (though  he  cannot  disregard 
the  universal  opinion  of  his  day)  that  punctuation 
has  for  its  primary  function  the  separating  of  gram- 
matical elements.  Verbose  and  tiresome  he  may  be, 
but  his  system  is  complete  and  unimpeachable.  He 
justified  his  pronouncement  that  "the  essential  prin- 
ciples of  punctuation  are  as  fixed  and  determinate 
as  the  canons  of  syntax." 

He  has  not  convinced  the  world  of  the  truth  of 
this.  Practically  every  rhetorician  in  this  country 
has  taken  his  arrangement  of  rules  directly  or  in- 
directly from  Wilson,  yet  denies  Wilson's  funda- 
mental notion.  It  is  curious  to  see  how  a  whole  gen- 
eration was  willing  to  pillage  the  storehouse  for 
facts,  but  scrupulously  refrained  from  even  looking 
at  the  central  fact.  The  little  things  were  easy  to 
carry  away;  the  main  thing  was  too  heavy  to  bother 
with. 

Those  who  "borrowed"  or  "used  freely"  were 
singularly  forbearing  in  another  way:  they  never 
touched  what  Wilson  would  have  called  the  most 
valuable  idea  in  his  repository — namely,  the  itali- 
cized sentence  at  the  end  of  this  paragraph.  Prob- 
ably the  borrowers  could  not  understand  it.  Possibly 


JOHN  WILSON'S  IDEA  125 

it  seemed  wrong-end-to,  and  so  they  judged  it  was  a 
misprint,  a  damaged  piece  of  goods — and  left  it  be- 
hind. Perhaps  they  were  repelled  by  the  four  un- 
necessary commas.  More  likely  they  were  charitable, 
feeling  in  their  gratitude  that  they  ought  not  to  let 
the  world  know  how  rabid  poor  old  Wilson  grew  in 
his  later  years.  Since  I  have  no  reason  for  such 
compunctions,  I  will  reveal  what  he  said :  "Punctua- 
tion has  not  received  that  attention  which  its  impor- 
tance demands.  Let  punctuation  form  a  branch  of 
academical  instruction;  let  it  be  studied  after  a 
competent  knowledge  of  English  etymology  and 
syntax  has  been  acquired;  let  the  rules  be  thor- 
oughly comprehended  by  the  pupil.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark,  that,  by  habituating  themselves  to  the  prac- 
tice of  pointing,  their  attention  will  naturally  be 
directed  to  clearness  of  thought,  and  accuracy  of 
expression. p ' 

This  is  not  the  ill-considered  ranting  of  a  hobbyist 
nor  the  excitement  of  enthusiasm.  It  is  the  deliber- 
ate, well-founded  judgment  of  a  canny  Scot,  of  a 
rational,  careful,  highly  respected,  conservative  citi- 
zen, whose  intellect  was  stable  and  vigorous,  whose 
whole  big  Treatise  does  not  exhibit  one  piece  of  false 
analysis.  Heed  his  advice  so  far  as  circumstances, 
at  Smithboro  permit.  If  you  are  not  allowed  to  select/ 
a  rhetoric  that  has  many  exercises,  perhaps  you  can- 
arrange  to  have  printed  and  sold  to  pupils  at  cost 
some  strips  of  unpunctuated  sentences.  This  is  done 
with  good  results  at  some  preparatory  schools.  An- 
other device,  easier  but  not  so  effective,  is  to  dictate 
every  day  a  good  illustrative  sentence  from  news- 
papers or  novels  or  your  own  brain.  If  punctuation 
is  not  in  favor  at  Smithboro,  don't  begin  a  campaign 


\ 


126  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

for  it.  Keep  quiet,  do  what  you  can,  and  bide  your 
time*  Perhaps  after  a  year  or  two  you  can  have 
your  way,  and  you  may  even  be  instrumental  in  per- 
suading grade  teachers  to  establish  a  few  rudiments. 
A  simple  "Comma  Book"  has  been  used  with  telling 
effect  on  eighth-grade  pupils.  That  is  where  the 
fight  ought  to  begin.  Those  grade-years  of  writing 
without  reference  to  points  are  what  make  high- 
school  labor  so  herculean. 

In  teaching  punctuation  you  will  never  get  any- 
where with  abstractions.  "Parenthetical"  and  " re- 
strictive' '  and  "  disjunctive  * '  convey  nothing  to  the 
average  pupil — nor  to  the  rest  of  us,  for  that  mat- 
ter. What  do  you  really  learn  about  " category' J 
from  this  definition?  "It  is  not  an  instrument  which 
the  mind  uses,  but  is  an  element  in  a  whole  which  in 
its  unity  the  mind  is."  You  can  get  nothing  out  of 
that  unless  you  previously  knew  what  it  means.  But 
you  can  learn  something  from  this :  "A  category  is 
a  way  the  mind  sees  things ;  it  sees  one  thing  happen 
after  another  thing ;  it  knows  that  a  series  of  things 
has  kept  happening  one  after  another  for  a  long 
time ;  it  has  to  believe  that  the  same  series  of  hap- 
penings is  going  to  continue  tomorrow,  and  the  day 
after,  and  so  on ;  and  it  can 't  think  of  life  except  as 
such  a  series;  and  this  f act-that- we-can't-get-away- 
from,  this  fact  of  happening-one-after-another,  we 
call  Time.  That  is  one  category.  There  is  another 
one  of  Space."  It  is  long-winded  and  very  unphil- 
osophical ;  but  it  does  work  in  a  plain  human  brain. 
Try  always  to  be  concrete,  to  talk  of  things,  of 
known  facts,  when  you  have  to  explain  "paren- 
thetical." 

Try    punctuation.      Give    it    a    full    trial.      The 


JOHN  WILSON'S  IDEA  127 

only  objectors  to  it,  so  far  as  I  know,  are  those 
who  have  never  really  tested  it.  The  sentence-cam- 
paign is  a  real  fight,  a  long  one.    Any  teacher  who 

has  developed  the  punctuation  strategy,  who  has 
fought  vigorously  and  waged  war  for  years,  knows 
that  nothing  else  he  can  do  produces  a  tithe  of  such 
fundamental  benefit.  Plentiful  exercises  with  plain 
human  prose,  not  with  the  mystifications  of  oratory 
and  poesy,  is  a  mighty  engine  against  the  grisly 
legions  of  carelessness.  You  may  mobilize  your 
forces  of  "orderly  thinking"  and  inspire  them  with 
devoted  valor,  but  they  are  crude  militia  until  Drill- 
master  Punctuation  has  trained  them  in  tactics.  His 
task  is  long.  He  is  harsh  and  unromantic.  He  must 
begin  with  grammar  and  dwell  upon  it  pitilessly. 
Most  recruits  and  taxpayers  consider  him  brutal  and 
inglorious.  But  he  knows  what  war  really  is.  He 
wins  victories. 


CHAPTER  VII 

WHAT  IS  A  COMMA! 

Punctuation  is  considered  the  least  interesting 
subject  in  the  world,  is  never  a  topic  at  teachers ' 
conventions,  will  cause  every  friend  to  look  bored 
and  uneasy  if  suggested  in  conversation.  This  in- 
difference is  due  to  three  causes:  (1)  the  feeling 
that  punctuation  is  unesthetic,  (2)  ignorance  of.  the 
fact  that  it  is  of  prime  importance,  (3)  ignorance  of 
what  it  is.  Chapter  I  should  have  disposed  of  the 
first  cause  and  Chapter  VI  of  the  second.  The  pur- 
pose of  this  chapter  is  to  dispose  of  the  third.  The 
title  is  chosen  because  an  adequate  exposition  of 
what  a  comma  is  reveals  the  whole  sum  of  the  knowl- 
edge we  are  seeking,  is  in  fact  about  four-fifths  of 
the  total. 

A  clear  understanding  is  marvelously  hard  to  get. 
Many  persons  cherish  the  most  violent  prejudices, 
so  that  one  principal  of  schools  will  wish  to  dis- 
charge a  teacher  who  uses  no  commas  at  the  ends 
of  lines  in  addressing  an  envelope,  and  a  secretary 
of  a  state  board  of  education  will  not  allow  any 
commas  at  all  in  his  printed  reports;  one  man  is 
nauseated  by  a  comma  with  a  dash,  and  another  is 
grieved  at  the  boorishness  of  omitting  it.    Such  ex- 

(treme  feelings  are  exceptional.  The  more  common 
attitude  is  that  nobody  really  knows  and  that  every 
person  has  to  guess  when  it  is  time  to  stick  in  a  mark. 
The  following  professions  of  agnosticism  were  all 

128 


WHAT  IS  A  COMMA?  129 

made  by  men  of  exceptionally  good  intellect,  all 
somewhat    prominent    as    editors    or    educators: 

Kveryone  has  to  pick  up  a  system  for  himselt"; 
"I  go  absolutely  by  the  way  it  feels ' ' ;  *  *  I  can 't 
argue  the  questions,  but  simply  know  that  in  my 
long  proofreading  career  I  have  always  done  thus 
and  so,  and  am  sure  I  am  right";  "no  comprehen- 
sive code  can  possibly  account  for  all  the  subtleties 
and  emphases  of  the  uses  of  commas ' ' ;  *  *  no  definite 
rules  can  be  given";  u punctuation  comes  by  na- 
ture"; "I  strive  instinctively  to  be  clear."  Is  there 
in  the  whole  range  of  human  puzzles  anything  more 
baffling  than  this  unanimous  assertion  that  nobody 
can  know  what  a  comma  is?  I  should  not  have  the 
hardihood  to  write  this  chapter  if  it  were  not  for 
three  very  good  reasons:  First,  that  all  these  agnos- 
tics really  do  use  commas  in  ahout  the  same  ways; 
•ml,  that  I  am  offering  here  nothing  of  my  own, 
hut  am  merely  referringyou  to  a  source  of  indubitable 
authority;  third,  you  will  be  saved  any  amount  of 
perplexity  and  blundering  it"  you  know  of  a  surety 
exactly  what  a  comma  is.  AVhen  you  have  finished 
the  chapter,  look  up  the  Century's  definition;  you 
can  then  be  satisfied  that  you  have  acquired  no  ex- 
ceptional or  unreliable  notions. 

One  caution  may  be  necessary :  don't  try  to  prose- 
lyte other  teachers,  don't  argue  with  older  heads, 
don't  strive  to  revolutionize  methods  or  change  text- 
books, or  show  them  what's  what  in  Smithboro. 
Teach  in  the  way  you  are  asked  to  teach.  If  the 
principal  or  the  head  of  the  departmenf  thinks  that 
"tiffid  rules"  are  destructive  of  the  spirit,  don't 
oppose  him.  You  might  as  well  hope  to  persuade  an 
old  man  that  hit  religion  is  vain.    "What  follows  is 


130  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

to  inform  you.  Any  teacher  whose  information  is 
thorough  will  in  due  time,  if  he  is  tactful  and  hard- 
working, find  that  his  ideas  are  effective  without  any 
propaganda.  Be  skeptical  about  what  follows.  You 
have  only  one  writer's  word  for  it,  and  you  cannot 
be  sure  of  its  truth  until  you  have  tested  and 
checked  up  for  a  year.  If  only  this  chapter  prevents 
your  present  conceptions  from  solidifying  without 
challenge  and  analysis,  it  will  do  much. 

"What  is  a  comma?  The  most  recent  and  most 
ambitious  answer  has  been  given  in  Educational 
Review  for  October,  1915.  The  writer  presents  a 
really  able  analysis,  founded  on  observation,  dis- 
playing with  acumen  the  essence  of  what  authors 
attempt  with  points.  She  makes  short  work  of  the 
comma-shows-a-pause  idea.  Next  she  sweeps  away 
the  criterion  of  syntax,  because  this  is  a  dictum,  not 
answerable  to  reason.  "By  virtue  of  what  inherent 
quality,"  she  asks,  "does  the  vocative  demand  the 
comma  I  If  the  amateur  ranges  in  literature  he  will 
learn  that  this  construction  often  actually  does  ex- 
press itself  without  a  point."  She  says  that  rhetor- 
ics are  scholastic  because  they  offer  us  a  "synthesis 
of  practice,"  as  shown  by  their  customary  expres- 
sion, ' '  the  comma  is  used. ' '  This  will  not  do  for  her ; 
she  must  seek  out  a  "working  principle;  not  a  code, 
but  a  real  psychology,  based  on  intrinsic  character. " 
Ponder  that  concept — the  "intrinsic  character"  of 
a  comma.  That  means  that  a  dot  prolonged  curv- 
ingly  downward  to  a  point  has  an  inherent  psycho- 
logical quality,  a  power  implicit  in  that  particular 
shape,  belonging  to  it  in  its  very  existence.  This  is 
no  distortion  of  her  plain  meaning,  for  she  amplifies 
the    thought    on    many   pages    with    such    expres- 


WHAT  IS  A  COMMA?  131 

sions  as  these:  "Each  sign  must  perform  its  func- 
tion by  virtue  of  some  immediate  suggestive  power, 
or  not  at  all",  "marks  peculiarly  suggestive  in 
form",  "the  indeterminate  curves  of  the  interroga- 
tion", "the  quick  expressiveness  of  the  other  signs", 
"the  comma,  with  its  tiny  hook  leftward,  creates  a 
suspension",  "the  colon  is  essentially  dramatic  in 
effect,  abrupt,  definitive,  revealing  no  suggestion  of 
subordination." 

A  mere  man  knows  not  how  to  treat  that.  As  a 
fancy  it  is  admirable.  Moreover  the  writer  applies 
her  imaginings  to  the  facts  with  rare  discrimina- 
tion, interpreting  the  designs  of  authors  with  sympa- 
thetic skill.  Hers  is  a  competent  mind  and  a  seeing 
eye.  That  is  why  her  notion  is  worth  exhibiting. 
If  she  fables,  what  may  not  be  expected  from  less 
gifted  reasoners  ?  If  she  is  right,  the  whole  world  is 
wrong;  for  the  universal  assumption  has  been  that 
our  points  are  arbitrary  symbols,  that  their  use  is 
an  artificial  code,  valid  only  because  it  is  generally 
understood  by  a  large  body  of  readers.  But  this 
code  she  will  not  accept,  because  it  "lies  apart  from 
natural  creative  expression."  Hence  no  one  can 
really  know  what  a  comma  is  unless  he  has  that  liter- 
ary sensibility  which  reveals  the  connotation  insepar- 
able from  a  dot  with  a  long  tail. 

We  cannot  believe  that  any  symbol  conveys  a 
message  except  to  persons  who  are  accustomed  to 
it.  A  dash,  a  dot,  and  a  dash  suggest  to  our  author 
suspension,  decision,  suspension;  to  some  early 
printers  they  would  have  meant  nothing,  comma, 
nothing;  to  a  telegraph  operator  they  are  the  letter 
K.  Commas  "cannot  set  off  a  word"  to  her  eye, 
but  they  actually  do  that  for  my  eye.    To  her  a  dot 


132  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

symbolizes  completeness ;  to  one  who  is  familiar  with 
repeating  decimals  it  represents  interminability.  To 
her  a  semicolon  is  "a  period  made  suspensive";  to  a 
Greek  scholar  it  is  a  question  mark.  To  her  mind  the 
colon  is  dramatic;  by  "most"  of  Dr.  Johnson's  day 
it  was  confounded  with  a  semicolon. 

^  Such  a  child  of  fancy  must  be  thrilled  by  the  life 
history  of  that  poor  colon.  There  he  was  "inher- 
ently dramatic  and  definitive,"  of  power  to  "charge 
with  final  force"— and  yet  for  700  years  before 
-Gutenberg  was  born  he  had  served  as  the  smallest 
divider;  in  the  Mainz  Psalter  of  1459  he  was  the 
slight  mark  between  the  ponderous  commas  that 
terminated  sentences;  and  for  a  century  after  the 
founder  of  the  Aldine  Press  was  dead  he  could  still 
be  found  in  this  menial  office.  Even  Johnson's  per- 
spicacity could  recognize  his  nature  only  with  a  "per- 
haps," and  had  to  acknowledge  that  he  was  "not 
very  necessary,  being  used  to  mark  a  pause  greater 
than  that  of  a  comma  and  less  than  that  of  a  period. " 
To  this  day  he  does  lowly  duty  in  schedules  and 
prayer-books  and  arithmetics.  Not  until  1915  was 
he  known  to  have  any  intrinsic  quality,  and  then  his 
nature  was  visible  to  only  one  bright  woman. 

To  all  the  world  besides  he  is  inherently  a  mean- 
ingless pair  of  dots.  Only  recently  has  he  been 
invested  with  an  artificial  significance,  so  that  now 
we  see  him  wearing  the  livery  of  a  footman  who  is 
to  usher  us  from  the  hall  of  a  sentence  into  the  draw- 
ing room ;  appropriate  only  in  constructions  that  are 
formal  and  dignified.  This  function  has  been 
assigned  so  recently  that  the  Century  defines  a  colon 
as  marking  "a  discontinuity  greater  than  that  indi- 
cated by  the   semicolon."     Most   readers   of  this 


WHAT  IS  A  COMMA!  133 

article  have  lived  long  enough  to  watch  the  process 
tag  spoil  one  particular  oilier. 

The  whimsy  of  "inherent  quality"  will  hardly  be 
dangerous  in  this  form,  for  few  will  take  it  m 
ously.  But  in  another  guise  it  misleads  intellectual 
men,  who  will  tell  you  that  they  use  the  comma  at 
a  given  point  in  an  undefinable  way,  feeling  that  it  is 
needed,  feeling  that  it  charges  with  emphasis  the 

ression  that  follows.  They  feel  that  their  emo- 
tion will  he  transmitted;  are  offended  by  the  soulless 
suggestion  that  no-comma  conveys  anything  until  the 
world  has  agreed  on  a  meaning.  This  curious  fail- 
ure to  realize  that  the  force  of  points  cannot  be  cre- 

1  by  the  individual  is  shown  in  the  ease  with 
which  we  have  credited  the  establishing  of  our 
punctuation  to  one  man,  the  founder  of  the  Aldine 
1  'ress.  If  ever  a  man  was  fitted  for  that  superhuman 
task,  he  was.  In  scholarship  he  was  prodigious,  in 
zeal  he  was  lofty,  in  energy  stupendous;  he  founded 
an  academy ;  he  made  of  his  assistants  an  even  more 
powerful  institution;  his  press  was  an  educational 
fountain.  From  my  youth  up  I  have  never  doubt ed 
that  he  "primarily  developed"  or  was  "a  pioneer* ' 
<>r  that  he  " introduced.' *  If  the  Century  says  so, 
who  dares  doubt  1  Yet  such  a  feat  he  never 
attempted.  Manutius  no  more  introduced  our 
punctuation  than  Chaucer  invented  poetry.  He  was 
not  nearly  so  original  as  Chaucer.  Indeed  origi- 
nality was  farthest  from  his  aim.  As  he  wanted  his 
readers  to  understand  easily,  it  was  necessary  to  use 
points  in  conventional  ways  that  had  been  familiar 
for —  I  don't  know  how  long.     Ko  one  has  thouirht 

it  worth  while  to  write  the  tangled  history.    We  may 

see  modern-lookimr  commas  in  Greek  script  of  the 


134  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

sixth  century  and  top-and-bottom  periods  in  fifth- 
century  Greek.  Doubtless  the  mystic  strands  of  pre- 
cedent stretch  back  unbroken  through  Alexandria 
to  the  founding  of  Thebes.  The  encyclopedia  takes 
us  as  far  as  the  third  century  B.C.,  when  Aristo- 
phanes, a  critical  editor  of  Byzantium,  "invented"  a 
system.  We  might  suppose  from  the  introductions 
to  treatises  that  during  all  those  centuries  no  direc- 
tor of  a  scriptorium  ever  committed  his  code  to  writ- 
ing, and  that  the  art  of  punctuation  was  again 
"invented"  by  Manutius,  and  that  his  grandson  was 
the  first  to  record  a  printer's  system  in  his 
Orthographiae  Ratio  in  1561.  We  should  have  to 
guess  that  the  art  swam  into  view  like  a  comet  at 
the  Bosporus,  disappeared,  and  was  never  seen 
again  till  it  shone  over  Venice  seventeen  centuries 
later.  I  have  no  time  or  knowledge  to  examine  this 
astounding  assumption.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  pur- 
pose to  note  that  if  we  open  a  volume  of  medieval  fac- 
similes, we  may  see  a  French  MS.  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury in  which  semicolons  separate  the  sentences; 
most  of  the  MSS.  of  later  date  show  sentences  begin- 
ning with  capitals,  ending  with  periods,  and  pointed 
freely  with  colons.  The  early  printers  adopted  pre- 
cisely what  the  scribes  had  made  familiar.  Before 
Manutius  ever  saw  a  printing-press,  perhaps  before 
he  had  seen  a  printed  book,  three  Germans  produced 
at  Paris  a  volume  whose  punctuation  looks  remark- 
ably modern,  with  its  parentheses,  its  hyphens,  and 
its  commas —  to  mention  only  the  refinements.  In 
contrast  to  this  a  page  of  an  Aldine  preface  of  1513 
is  a  maze,  so  thickly  is  it  strewn  with  commas,  so 
bewildering  is  the  use  of  the  period  as  both  an  end 
stop  and  an  internal  point,  so  curious  is  the  total 


WHAT  IS  A  COMMA  t  135 

absence  of  the  colon  and  the  employment  of  a  semi- 
colon as  an  abbreviation  for  we.  Manutius's  page  is 
farther  from  the  customs  of  our  day  than  the  page 
of  Gerinir,  Kranz,  and  Freiburger  of  1471.  Later 
printers  were  quite  unconscious  of  what  had  been 
44 established' '  at  Venice.  I  have  a  beautiful  piece 
of  Dutch  typography  printed  127  years  after  Manu- 
tius  was  dead,  in  which  the  old-fashioned  colons  and 
slanting  lines  declare  that  their  masters  are  inde- 
pendent of  the  Aldine  Press.  They  followed  a  sys- 
tem that  was  more  common  in  their  part  of  the  world. 
Every  normal  printer  had  to  pass  judgment  on  how 
to  make  his  books  most  easy  to  read.  The  marks 
were  few  in  number,  but  had  been  so  long  employed 
with  such  diversity  and  contrariety  by  the  scribes 
that  printers  had  to  select  from  a  bewildering  mass 
of  precedent.  Practice  was  a  Chaos  where  Opinion 
sat  umpire  and  Prejudice  was  referee  and  Best 
Usage  was  an  unknown  god,  ignorantly  worshiped 
perhaps,  but  worshiped.  Printers  never  so  lost 
their  reason  as  to  conceive  that  they  could  originate 
anything.  Their  one  hope  was  to  guess  at  the  prac- 
tice that  was  most  generally  acceptable.  After  250 
years  they  succeeded  in  the  extraordinary  task  of 
agreeing  on  one  fairly  uniform  code,  in  which  a 
comma  marked  the  smallest  degree  of  separation. 

A  common  theory  until  after  1800  (it  was  never  a 
fact)  was  that  a  comma  indicated  a  pause  for  oral 
reading1.  The  new  Britammoa  says  as  much,  and  a 
most  reverend  American  trio  would  instruct  our 
youth  in  "indicating  to  the  eye  the  pauses  and  the 
modulations  of  the  voice."  This  definition  is  usually 
denied  nowadays,  but  persists  as  vigorously  as  the 
fear  of  unlucky  Fridays.    Very  recently  I  was  told 


136  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

by  a  man  who  directs  the  typographical  policy  of 
a  university  journal  that  "a  dash  is  used  to  prolong 
the  pause  indicated  by  a  comma. ' '  Nothing  will  ever 
jar  his  calm  certainty  that  this  is  truth.  And  it  is 
true  that  an  oral  reader  will  usually  (by  no  means 
always)  halt  for  a  comma  and  that  the  average  pause 
at  a  semicolon  may  be  less  than  at  a  period.  But 
only  a  human  metronome  could  possibly  time  himself 
by  the  points.  Any  novel  opened  at  any  page  would 
prove  in  any  psychological  laboratory  to  any  rational 
observer  that  a  spirited  reader  can  render  the 
author's  meaning  properly  only  by  pausing  longer 
at  some  commas  than  at  some  periods,  and  by  not 
pausing  at  all  at  other  commas.  The  old  notion  is 
beneath  argument.  Take  up  any  book  printed  when 
that  notion  was  most  common — say  early  in  the  last 
century — and  observe  how  many  points  are  method- 
ically placed  where  no  reader  ever  thinks  of  pausing. 
Remembering  that  most  literature  is  pointed  by 
printers,  inquire  how  many  printers  have  ever  meas- 
ured time-spaces.  Not  only  is  all  observation  of  fact 
against  this  delusion;  " authority' '  is  overwhelm- 
ingly against  it.  As  early  as  1842  Francillon,  a  Lon- 
doner who  reverenced  authority,  was  not  afraid  to 
say  that  "such  rules  [of  pausing]  are  of  little  or  no 
value."  Wilson,  the  father  of  American  rule-books, 
announced  its  falsity;  and  time  would  fail  me  to 
quote  the  verdicts  of  Marsh  and  Bigelow  and  De- 
Vinne  and  the  Fowlers  and  Orcutt  and  Teall  and 
Klein  and  Manly. 

The  pause  myth  would  not  be  worth  attention  if 
it  were  not  for  an  insidious  faith  which  is  corollary 
to  it —  namely,  that  we  may  tell  where  to  insert 
commas  in  our  writing  by  noticing  whether  there 


WHAT  is  A  COMMA T  137 

would  be  a  pause  in  oral  reading.  Four  times  out 
of  five  the  test  applies;  the  fifth  betrays  sprawling 
ignorance.  The  test  is  a  will-o-the-wisp  that  leads 
to  such  boggy  forms  as  "  Springfield  Illinois,  is  his 
town,"  or  "Hurry  up  Henry,  you'll  be  late,"  or 
44 That,  was  not  to  be  thought  of."  It  is  exactly 
comparable  to  the  belief  that  you  may  tell  win 
to  dig  a  well  by  noticing  where  a  forked  twig  bends 
down.  Since  the  water-witch  seldom  fails  in  a  favor- 
able locality,  many  trust  it  so  implicitly  that  no 
geologist  can  persuade  them  of  their  folly.  Neither 
can  any  lazy  writer  who  believes  in  pause-witchery 
be  convinced  by  a  presentation  of  the  dull  facts  of 
syntactical  stratification.  Any  open  mind,  if  it  is 
willing  to  observe  a  little  and  reason  the  least  bit, 
can  perceive  what  the  truth  is. 

We  are  getting  on.  A  r>omm»  is  q  IiHIq  qifrnal 
showing  disjunction  that  II  nut  oral.  Of  what  kind, 
then?  Many  have  answered:  "The  purpose  is  to 
indicate  to  the  eye  the  construction  of  the  sentence." 
I  have  quoted  approvingly  a  pronouncement  that 
"tin  function  is  displaying  grammatical 

structure."  This  may  be  true  or  false.  If  "construc- 
tion" means  kind  of  syntactical  element,  the  defini- 
tion is  absurdly  untrue.  No  author  or  printer  ever 
undertook  to  show  that  "this  group  is  a  preposi- 
tional phrase* '  or  "here  is  an  adverb  clause.' '  Yet 
dozens  of  controversial  paragraphs  have  been  writ- 
ton  to  assert  or  deny  that  points  exhibit  structure. 
To  assert  what  never  was  true  of  any  printed  page 
is  folly ;  to  deny  the  existence  of  what  never  existed 
is  folly.  And  since  these  writers  are  sensible  beings, 
they  must  be  misunderstanding  one  another.  There 
is  only  one  possible  way  of  stating  the  case  truly: 


138  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Commas  separate  syntactical  elements  and  their 
uses  can  be  taught  only  to  those  who  have  a  knowl- 
edge of  syntax;  they  do  not  separate  for  the  pur- 
pose of  displaying  grammatical  relations.  This  is 
so  obvious  that  I  know  not  why  men  argue  the  ques- 
tion. Any  long  complex  sentence  so  close-knit  as  to 
need  no  punctuation  will  settle  it. 

Why,  then,  does  a  comma  disjoin  things!  Because 
they  are  not  closely  connected  in  thought. 

Doubtless  that  formula  is  inadequate  or  illogical, 
so  that  it  can  be  picked  to  pieces.  But  this  is  not 
a  dialectic  excursion;  we  wish  to  get  somewhere.  I 
mean  that  subjects  and  complements  are  closely 
related  in  thought  to  their  verbs,  and  that  restrictive 
modifiers  are  conceived  as  cohering  to  what  they 
modify.  If  sentences  had  no  other  elements,  it  is 
unlikely  that  commas  would  ever  have  been  invented. 
They  are  used  to  forewarn  a  reader  of  expressions 
that  are  interjected,  absolute,  parenthetical,  loosely 
added,  or  set  down  as  unconnected  items  in  a 
series —  in  short  (it  might  almost  be  said)  such 
words  or  groups  as  have  no  structure.  In  this  sense 
the  statement  that  "punctuation  indicates  construc- 
tion' '  is  strictly  true,  though  some  quibblers  might 
prefer  to  say  "indicates  lack  of  construction." 
Whatever  the  term  we  employ,  however  judgment 
has  fluctuated  from  age  to  age,  the  central  fact  has 
always  been,  apparent  in  every  systematic  effort, 
that  printers  have  tried  to  warn  readers  of  words 
that  were  juxtaposed  but  not  interwoven.  The  desire 
for  clearness  has  been  so  strong  that  until  fifty 
years  ago  object  clauses  were  regularly  pointed,  and 
to  this  day  many  rhetorics  advise  the  separating  of 
a  subject  clause  from  its  immediately  following  verb. 


WHAT  IS  A  COMMA  t  139 

Can  lul  writers  of  only  a  generation  ago  sometimes 
used  twice  as  many  commas  as  would  be  tolerated 
by  a  fastidious  editor  of  today.  Yet  the  principle 
has  never  altered.  It  has  forever  been  a  question  of 
44  Is  this  element  to  be  considered  as  loosely  con- 
joined?" 

When  an  author  inserts  a  comma,  takes  it  out, 
debates,  puts  it  back  again,  he  is  engaged  with  some 
nice  distinction.  It  appears  to  be  a  matter  of 
commas.  Hence  he  denies  that  punctuation  is  an 
exact  system,  and  pities  any  mind  that  entertains 
such  an  absurdity.  The  fact  is  that  he  is  not  decid- 
ing about  a  comma ;  he  is  determining  his  meaning, 
balancing  two  desirabilities:  (1)  linking  his  thought 
closely,  (2)  disjoining  his  thought  somewhat.  It  Is 
a  question  of  artistic  effect,  often  a  very  delicate 
one.  But  when  he  has  made  choice  of  which  mean- 
ing to  express,  the  debate  about  a  comma  has  disap- 
peared. The  mark  goes  or  stays  by  mechanical 
necessity.  These  entirely  different  processes,  one 
artistic  and  one  mechanical,  have  been  confounded  by 
rhetoricians,  and  hence  the  vehemence  of  their  feel- 
ing that  44all  these  subtleties  and  emphases  cannot 
be  codified."  To  be  sure,  the  subtleties  of  meaning 
cannot  be  classified.  No  fiat  can  render  perhaps 
always  parenthetical  or  compel  us  to  put  a  comma 
before  the  and  that  joins  the  members  of  a  compound 
sentence.  The  law  always  reads  in  terms  of  if  it  is 
parenthetical,  if  you  desire  to  show  that  the  two 
members  are  not  strictly  coordinate,  //  a  reader 
might  for  the  moment  suppose  that  the  and  was  join- 
ing two  words.  The  law  seldom  says,  44Thou  shalt 
use  such  a  point  with  sneh  a  word":  but  rather, 
<4When  thou  hast  defined  thy  meaning  to  thyself, 


140  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

there  is  only  one  way  to  convey  it."  A  verbal  artist 
will  protest  that  he  feels  a  dozen  different  shades 
of  meaning;  he  would  like  a  graded  series  of  commas. 
But  there  are  no  such  things.  All  we  have  is  the. one 
crude  symbol  to  indicate  disjunction.  Once  the  sub- 
tlety of  his  thought  is  analyzed,  there  is  no  subtlety 
about  putting  in  a  comma  to  set  off  what  is  loosely 
connected. 

"By  virtue  of  what  inherent  quality?"  I  know 
not.  A  vocative  or  a  nominative  absolute  appears  to 
me  disruptive  by  nature.  That  may  be  a  mere  mat- 
ter of  association,  like  taking  it  for  granted  that  bare 
feet  are  inherently  informal.  I  find  it  impossible  to 
get  interested  in  such  metaphysics.  No  one  can  tell 
about  the  inherent  quality  of  an  artificial  matter. 
We  are  dealing  only  with  certain  facts  of  civiliza- 
tion. The  scribes  did  as  a  matter  of  fact  inherit 
preconceptions  that  were  older  than  Aristotle,  teach- 
ings about  absolute  elements  and  minor  portions  of 
a  period,  which  had  long  been  shown  by  devices 
called  puncta.  The  world  has  never  departed  far 
from  their  scheme.  Nor  have  we  any  interest  here 
in  ideas  about  reforming  usage,  or  in  noticing  how 
original  minds  amend  or  discard  usages.  We  are 
looking  at  common  custom.  There  is  no  denying  that 
able  writers  have  used  commas  to  show  pauses  or 
emphases,  and  that  groaning  publishers  have  fol- 
lowed their  copy.  Very  respectable  brains  have 
supposed  that  commas  can  be  manipulated  by  indi- 
vidual taste  and  have  pleaded  for  the  signals  that 
mean  so  much  to  those  who  hoist  them.  But  what 
about  us  who  read?  Possibly  we  are  like  wireless 
(  operators  who  can  receive  a  mixture  of  Morse  and 
"i Continental;  perhaps  we  can  guess  at  a  conglomer- 


WUAT  IS  A   COMMA1  141 

ate  of  three  or  four  codes.  But  unless  it  is  to  some 
extent  a  prearrangement  the  most  soulfully  placed 
point  conveys  nothing  to  us.  For  example,  a  critical, 
level-headed  editor  recently  spoke  of  "using  a 
comma  to  emphasize  what  follows1';  yet  the  rhet- 
orics all  speak  of  separation.  And  that  "inherent 
quality' '  article  directly  contradicts  the  editor, 
declaring  that  "the  mark  from  its  form  simply 
tails  to  affect  the  expression  by  which  it  is  fol- 
lowed"; it  states  the  complementary  conviction  that 
"the  emphasis  of  the  comma  is  wholly  given  to  the 
matter  by  which  the  point  is  preceded."  The  dash 
of  fancies  is  more  mirth-provoking  than  usually 
comes  to  an  essayist's  hand,  and  a  witty  writer  could 
entertain  his  readers  with  it.  Our  purpose,  how- 
ever, is  not  to  get  fun,  but  information.  If  two  such 
highly  intelligent  witnesses  negative  each  other,  they 
create  an  unescapable  conviction  that  a  comma  no 
more  shows  direction  than  a  white  light  can  mean 
starboard  to  one  skipper  and  port  to  another;  that  a 
comma  will  not  obediently  mean  what  we  imagine 
it  means;  that  we  must  humbly  learn  what  it  does 
actually  signify  in  rhetorical  navigation.  Or  is  a 
sympathetic  reader  supposed  to  exercise  some  clair- 
voyant power  that  we  ordinary  fellows  lack?  It 
would  be  useful  in  reading  illiterate  themes,  which 
are  always  pointed  inspirationally.  Young  writers 
adore  those  rhetorical  uses.  They  "kind  of  think" 
that  some  stop  is  demanded  at  this  place,  and  in  iroes 
a  comma.  Sign-painters  often  "feel"  that  this  is 
a  good  spot  for  emphasis,  and  in  goes  a  comma. 
The  results  are  offensive  to  all  who  do  not  tli 
selves  employ  wmmmi  in  those  ways,  but  the  pupil 
and  the  painter  are  invariably  unrocoptive  of  our 


142  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

criticism,  proud  that  they  are  not  hampered  by  rules. 
These  are  extreme  cases,  but  not  caricature.  They 
remind  us  of  the  unpleasant  likelihood  that  a  comma 
is  absurd  unless  used  in  just  the  ways  prescribed  by 
a  considerable  portion  of  humanity. 

My  whole  skepticism  about  rhetorical  use  is  like 
the  feeling  Alice  had  in  the  Looking-Glass  world 
when  Humpty  Dumpty  declared  that  "slithy"  was 
a  portmanteau  word,  packed  with  a  double  meaning 
— lithe  and  slimy.  Alice,  we  are  told,  thoughtfully 
asked  another  question.  I  am  thoughtful  and  strive 
to  be  polite  when  a  man  tells  me  what  a  comma 
means  to  him.  I  shall  now  make  a  second  inquiry, 
more  difficult  and  more  important  than  what  a 
comma  is :  Where  is  the  code  for  using  it  ? 

If  a  man  from  Mars,  noticing  that  our  clothes  are 
similar  in  essentials  but  different  in  details,  should 
wish  to  conform  to  the  best  mode,  he  would  be  per- 
plexed. Even  if  he  disregarded  the  extremes  of  the 
actor's  loudness  and  the  collegian's  slackness  and 
the  clergyman's  severity,  he  would  still  see  unrecon- 
cilable  differences  in  the  garb  of  men  of  his  own  age 
and  status.  Now  they  wear  high  vests  at  dinner  and 
again  they  show  a  broad  expense  of  stiff  or  of  pleated 
bosom.  In  the  same  group  of  careful  dressers  some 
leave  the  bottom  of  the  vest  unbuttoned,  some  wear 
belts.  Wiry  do  they  differ?  He  makes  bold  to  ask  a 
man  whose  vest  is  entirely  buttoned,  "How  do  you 
decide  this  question  of  fashion?"  The  reply  is,  "Oh, 
there's  no  rule;  it's  a  matter  of  individual  taste." 
He  asks  a  man  with  a  pin  in  his  tie,  "Why  do  some 
men  not  wear  pins  ? ' '  And  the  reply  is,  "  Oh,  there 's 
no  rule  about  it."  But  the  Martian  is  a  keen  fellow. 
He  can  demonstrate  in  a  minute  that  there  are  rules, 


WHAT  IS  A  COMMA!  143 

very  binding  ones.  No  one  leaves  the  top  of  his  vest 
unbuttoned;  no  one  wears  a  flower  in  his  tie.  Al- 
though these  matters  are  slight,  the  rules  against 
them  are  as  well  known  as  the  law  against  embezzle- 
ment— and  better  observed.  Yet  every  man  he  ques- 
tions would  scoff  at  the  idea  that  there  is  any 
"authority"  for  doing  or  not  doing.  Every  one 
asserts  that  he  dresses  as  he  likes.  Not  one  has  ever 
looked  into  a  code  of  fashions;  every  one  feels 
superior  to  a  tailor's  pictures  or  to  a  column  in 
fue.  All  the  Martian  can  do  is  to  notice  custom 
and  follow  as  best  he  may. 

This  is  the  situation  when  a  pupil  is  required  to 
i  rite_coxrfict„sentences.  He  is  a  Martian,  plunged 
into  an  intricacy  of  conventions.  And  every  text- 
book declares,  "Oh,  there  are  no  hard-and-fast 
rules."  Yet  if  he  has  the  least  discernment  he  per- 
ceives all  kinds  of  inviolable  regulations.  He  is 
puzzled.    We  offer  him  meager  instruction. 

The  allegory  is  by  no  means  a  parallel.  Clothing 
is  a  joking  matter;  punctuation  is  serious  for  a  pupil. 
Fashions  are  forced  upon  us  from  infancy;  punctua- 
tion is  not,  except  in  the  case  of  those  who  are  by 
temperament  so  observant  that  they  acquire  uncon- 
sciously the  prevailing  customs  of  spelling  and 
pointing.  This  difference  has  never  received  proper 
attention  from  pedagogues.  Many  an  editor  and 
professor  who  never  consciously  acquired  a  single 
rule  can  use  commas  with  unimpeachable  skill.  He 
has  absorbed  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  art  with- 
out formal  instruction,  and  therefore  protests 
against  teaching  strict  rules.  But  the  majority  of 
pupils,  whose  senses  arc  alert  for  matters  of  cos- 
tume,  never   distinguish   between  a  comma  and  a 


144  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

period.  They  are  from  Mars  and  they  must  be 
shown.  A  more  vital  difference  between  the  parable 
and  the  fact  is  that  fashions  in  clothes  vary  from 
i  spring  to  antumn,  while  custom  in  punctuation  is  a 
matter  of  generations. 

Youth  hardly  sees  the  garb  of  a  generation  ago; 
the  commas  of  a  past  age  are  often  before  him.  His 
teacher  may  be  more  familiar  with  Irving 's  stops 
than  with  Kipling's,  and  hence  is  likely  to  suppose 
that  there  aren't  any  rules.  The  most  misleading 
part  of  the  parable  is  the  correct  dresser.  We  have 
small  respect  for  a  human  clothes-horse;  we  don't 
wish  to  copy  him.  We  do,  however,  respect  the  best 
modern  usage  as  to  stops.  It  may  be  so  elusive  that 
we  doubt  its  existence,  so  mechanical  that  we  get  no 
joy  out  of  it ;  but  if  we  could  lay  hands  on  a  certified 
copy  of  Best  Usage,  knowing  that  it  really  deserved 
its  title,  really  was  a  consensus  of  the  best  taste  of 
our  age,  we  should  welcome  it  with  gratitude,  cleave 
to  it,  use  it. 

Is  such  a  code  in  existence  ?  Can  we  find  any  body 
of  uniform  practice?  Here  is  a  list  of  the  possible 
sources  of  authority: 

-  1.  Pure  Eeason.  I  cannot  understand  this,  and 
so  cannot  discuss  it  fairly.  It  would  be  fun  to  work 
out  a  consistent  interpungendi  ratio  if  one  had  power 
to  foist  it  upon  the  world,  but  the  work  would  be 
dreamy  romance.  The  only  practical  course  is  to 
inquire:  "What  do  commas  mean  to  the  men  who 
use  them  most?" 

2.  Instinct.  If  this  sounds  like  sarcasm,  listen 
to  the  words  of  a  teacher  who  inveighs  against  rules. 
"There  has  been  too  much  worship  and  too  little 
spirit  in  this  matter  of  punctuation.     Can  we  not 


WHAT  IS  A  COMMA?  145 

induce  children  to  think  so  clearly  that,  when  the 

Qtenoe  does  demand  a  semicolon,  it  is  to  be  n 
not  as  a  thing  possessing  grace  in  itself,  but  because 
without  it  some  comma  may  not  possess  sufficient 
suggestive  force?"  This  most  attractive  religion 
n -presents  the  hope  of  many  righteous  persons.  I 
would  give  half  my  wealth  if  I  could  embrace  the 
ereed,  but  since  I  have  never  seen  it  convey  truth  to 
illiterate  minds,  I  must  reject  it. 
y  3.  Authors.  How  can  we  get  at  them?  Evidence 
of  all  kinds  indicates  that  the  majority  (perhaps 
four-fifths)  leave  punctuation  to  the  printer.  Few 
of  the  minority  would  allow  themselves  to  be  called 
" authorities.' '  When  we  cite  authors  we  make  the 
assumption  that  they  are  as  competent  in  pointing 
as  in  diction.  Any  sensible  disputant  about  the 
meaning  of  words  would  agree  in  advance  to  quit 
his  opposition  to  an  idiom  if  six  authors  of  estab- 
lished fame  could  be  quoted  against  him.  Words 
are  an  author's  medium;  his  taste  about  them  is 
significant.  But  as  to  that  arbitrary  comma-code, 
perhaps  he  knows  it  and  probably  he  does  not. 
j  4.  Rhetorics.  Most  of  these  show  considerable 
faith  in  instinct  and  reason,  most  of  them  speak  of 
what  authors  do,  every  one  prints  laws  that  were 
drafted  by  printers,  nearly  all  rehearse  rules  that 
died  out  of  use  decades  ago.    How  can  we  look  to 

them? 

5.  Publishers.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  influen- 
tial  printers  are  the  real  developers  of  punctuation. 
The  producers  of  books  always  have  been.  The 
younger  Aldus 's  Ratio  was  simplified  for  school  use 
by  Dutch  printers.  In  America  it  was  a  Boston 
printer,  Wilson,  who  developed  a  code  so  sound  and 


146  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

comprehensive  that  for  half  a  century  his  influence 
permeated  all  rhetorics.  Today  the  greatest  influ- 
ence behind  our  manuals  is  the  judgment  of  a  New 
York  printer,  DeVinne.  Publishers  have  always 
been  under  the  necessity  of  adopting  some  fixed 
method  of  making  their  books  easily  intelligible. 
They  are  sadly  familiar  with  idiosyncrasies  of  copy, 
and  appreciate  as  no  author  can  how  those  oddities 
detract  from  effectiveness.  Their  office  is  to  help  a 
writer  to  express  his  personality  by  using  their 
marks  in  only  those  ways  that  the  world  under- 
stands. The  author  may  make  a  portmanteau  of  a 
comma;  the  publisher's  business  is  to  unpack.  Rigid 
and  wrong  he  may  be  at  times,  but  in  the  main  he 
is  right.  We  could  depend  on  any  usage  sanctioned 
by  a  majority  of  thoughtful  publishers.  The  diffi- 
culty of  compiling  their  judgments  is  that  we  never 
know  how  much  of  a  compromise  between  printer 
and  author  is  represented  by  any  given  book.  The 
only  way  to  discover  how  publishers  agree  would  be 
to  visit  their  offices,  propose  a  questionnaire,  tabu- 
late results.  This  would  be  an  extensive  labor,  per- 
haps impossible;  for  some  offices  might  be  unable 
to  extend  so  expensive  a  courtesy  to  the  curious 
visitor. 

Is  there  any  sixth  kind  of  guidance?  These  five 
all  reduce  to  one — publishers.  If  you  could  know  the 
practice  of  twenty  good  houses  in  any  matter,  and 
should  find  them  all  agreeing,  you  would  feel  assured 
that  you  knew  the  best  usage.  If  eighteen  agreed, 
you  could  disregard  the  other  two.  Fifteen  would 
make  you  confident  enough.  Who  would  stand  out 
against  a  ruling  that  had  eleven  votes  in  its  favor? 
Not  that  any  decision  would  be  binding  upon  a  man 


WHAT  rS  A  C0MMA1  147 

who  nurses  prepossessions,  but  that  it  would  inform 
HI  teachable  persons  of  what  commas  really  do  mean 
to  the  great  world  that  we  hope  will  understand  our 
composition. 

Just  such  a  compilation  of  the  practice  of  pub- 
lishers is  issued  every  month,  sent  everywhere,  is  in 

vy  living-room  in  the  country.  We  may  not  ad- 
mire the  literary  quality  of  the  medium  in  which  it 
is  to  be  found,  but  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
case.  The  dozens  of  publishers  are  zealous  to  dis- 
play current  literature  in  the  most  attractive  and 
easily  understood  way ;  they  employ  men  whose  life 
study  has  been  to  know  wrhat  points  mean  to  the 
world,  to  know  what  modern  conventions  really  are, 
to  follow  and  conform  to  good  usage.  They  are  con- 
servative enough  to  satisfy  any  professor.  They 
may  not  be  strong  reasoners,  but  that  very  fact 
makes  their  counsel  safe ;  for  a  reasoner  about  any 
matter  of  custom  is  the  worst  ignoramus.  It  may 
also  be  said  to  their  credit,  as  Prince  Hal  modestly 
said  of  himself  in  comparison  with  Falstaff,  "I  lack 
m  nie  of  thy  instinct.' '  They  are  the  men  who  know. 
You  may  deny  them  all  literary  taste,  all  wit,  all 

satility,  and  may  shrug  your  shoulders  at  the 
small -mindedness  of  any  one;  nevertheless  they  are 
keen  students  of  how  to  manipulate  a  few  arbitrary 

lbols  so  that  a  writer's  feeling  may  be  conveyed 
with  the  least  distortion.  They  build  an  arbitrary 
code;  there  is  no  other  possibility  under  heaven. 
Any  one  of  us  could  devise  an  infinitely  more  flexible 
ami  inclusive  set  of  signals,  but  it  would  be  a  toy, 
useless  for  communicating  with  our  fellows.  We 
1  extend  and  improve  the  present  code  if  only 
the  work!  would  make  us  dictator  and  obediently 


148  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

learn  our  novelties.  Americans,  however,  are  so 
stubborn  against  useful  innovation  that  they  will 
hardly  adopt  the  metric  system.  I  still  have  to  sell 
my  potatoes  by  the  clumsy  bushel ;  and  I  must  con- 
sent to  have  my  mental  wares  measured  by  the 
vulgar  standard  if  I  wish  them  transferred  to  other 
people's  brains. 

Complete  rules  are  given,  to  the  last  detail  they 
are  given,  in  our  scrupulous  periodicals.  Authors' 
contributions  are  not  evidence,  for  without  a  vast 
deal  of  consulting  we  could  not  separate  the  igno- 
rance of  amateurs  from  an  established  policy.  The 
parts  of  each  issue — notably  the  editorials — that  are 
known  to  be  conformed  to  a  system  will  furnish  the 
facts  of  usage  as  one  office  interprets  them.  Start 
with  the  Nation.  Though  it  will  not  furnish  emo- 
tional dialogue,  a  single  number  will  show  examples 
of  three-fourths  of  all  the  customs  we  may  have 
doubts  about.  To  be  specific,  let  us  hunt  for  a  comma 
with  a  dash.  "We  shall  not  find  it.  The  combination 
is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Outlook.  The  Christmas 
Harper's  shows  not  one  case  in  the  prose  of  eighteen 
writers ;  evidently  the  editors  are  severe  against  the 
use.  We  cannot  find  it  in  the  Saturday  Evening 
Post,  nor  in  Scribner's  unless  copy  has  been  fol- 
lowed, nor  in  Life,  nor  in  Collier's,  nor  in  any  (?) 
newspaper.  I  have  observed  it  in  only  three  month- 
lies and  in  a  few  college  journals  that  prefer  a  staid 
conservatism. 

Will  you  decide  that  such  a  minority  is  right  and 
that  the  great  majority  is  lacking  in  sensitiveness 
for  the  finer  nuances?  Even  if  you  cannot  give  up 
the  cherished  practice  for  yourself,  will  you  dare 
advise  others  to  follow  it?    Will  you  disdain  such 


WHAT   IS  A   COMMA  149 

hority?  Hear  the  words  of  one  of  America's 
greatest  scholars,  Professor  Marsh,  who  wrote  in  a 
puristic  period,  who  was  so  refined  as  to  lament  the 
"corrupt"  pronunciation  of  Cholmondeley,  who  said 
of  the  cnide  journalism  of  the  50*8:  "There  is  no 
agency  through  which  man  acts  more  powerfully 
upon  the  mind  of  his  fellow-man,  and  the  influence 
of  the  art  of  printing  upon  language  and  thought 
has  reached  its  acme  in  the  daily  newspaper."  If 
he  were  restored  to  life  today,  would  he  not  feel 
respectful  toward  our  best  weeklies!  One  of  the 
most  conservative  American  editors  of  influential 
magazines  has  declared  that  changes  of  punctuation 
in  periodicals  begin  with  the  newspapers,  and  an- 
other that  dailies  like  the  New  York  Post  and  Times 
are  safer  than  the  monthlies. 

The  present-day  aggregate  of  clear-eyed,  respon- 
sive, conscientious  typography  has  attained  almost 
complete  solidarity.  Notice  a  few  examples  of  how 
it  differs  from  the  rhetorics:  it  practically  never 
furnishes  an  instance  of  a  semicolon  before  such 
words  as  namely;  it  never  omits  the  comma  before 
a  vocative;  only  grudgingly  and  with  a  big  IF  will 
it  put  a  comma  between  a  subject  clause  and  its  verb ; 
it  will  not  use  a  comma  after  an  introductory  phrase 
except  to  show  that  the  words  are  parenthetical;  it 
never  tries  to  replace  omitted  words  by  a  comma. 
In  these  cases  it  shows  the  tendency  to  be  rid  of  the 
superfluous  commas  of  our  grandfathers.  It  is  even 
attacking  (the  newspapers  are  fairly  assaulting) 
the  comma  after  an  introductory  adverb  clause  that 
is  restrictive  in  meaning.  In  one  case  the  vote 
is  for  a  comma  that  rhetoricians  are  indifferent 
about,  before  the  conjunction  but.    This  is  practical- 


IV 


150  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ly  invariable,  except  for  contrasting  two  words. 
Every  instance  in  which  the  manuals  are  contradic- 
tory can  be  decided  by  submitting  it  to  the  only 
court  that  has  jurisdiction.  A  jury  of  twenty  careful 
periodicals  with  literary  motives  will  give  at  least 
a  four-to-one  verdict  on  any  case  brought  before  it 
for  trial.  I  may  agree  with  one  of  those  verdicts 
and  think  another  absurd;  what  I  opine  is  not  of 
the  least  importance.  I  may  rebel  at  such  decisions 
as  are  pure  convention;  the  more  fool  I.  In  other 
matters  I  am  sane;  why  not  in  this  one?  Though  I 
may  privately  feel  that  lace  at  my  wrists  would  em- 
phasize my  gentle  breeding  more  than  stiff  cuffs,  I 
sadly  defer  to  society's  prejudice.  I  ought  to  do  the 
same  in  dressing  my  thoughts. 

"We  could  do  much  more  than  settle  the  little  cases 
of  " always  yes"  and  "always  no";  we  could  learn 
to  state  simple  principles  which  will  instantly  fur- 
nish the  "yes"  or  the  "no"  when  we  have  defined 
our  meaning.  For  example,  shall  there  be  a  comma 
before  andl  (1)  No,  whenever  it  is  clearly  apparent 
that  and  is  joining  two  similar  units,  whether  words, 
phrases,  or  clauses.  If  the  eye  might  at  first  glance 
suppose  that  and  is  joining  the  following  word, 
whereas  it  is  really  adding  a  whole  group  of  words, 
warn  the  eye  by  a  comma.  (2)  Yes,  if  the  two  items 
(especially  clauses)  are  to  be  shown  as  dissimilar  in 
time,  mood,  subject,  or  form  of  emphasis.  (3)  Yes, 
if  and  is  joining  the  last  two  items  of  a  series  in 
which  the  previous  items  are  not  joined  by  and. 

The  sum  of  all  such  trifles  is  a  trifle.  This  chapter 
would  be  too  trifling  to  print  if  its  objective  were  a 
sheaf  of  rules.  My  aim  is  very  different.  I  have 
in  mind  the  fearful  ignorance  of  college  youths  as 


WHAT   IS  A   COMMA!  151 

to  what  a  decent  sentence  is.  All  instructors  testify 
to  it  and  are  horror-struck  by  it.  They  are  all  but 
helpless  before  it,  because  the  schools  have  given 
them  so  little  foundation  on  which  to  build.  Most 
of  our  colleges  have  to  take  violent  measures  to 
secure  some  degree  of  improvement.  Why  have  the 
schools  done  so  poorly?  Because  the  textbooks  say, 
"No  definite  rules  can  be  given";  because  those 
books  that  do  present  a  fairly  consistent  code  are 
uncinphatic  as  to  what  virtues  are  cardinal,  what 
sins  are  deadly;  because  teachers  who  do  not  know 
the  facts  of  punctuation  are  thus  encouraged  in 
ignorance  and  laziness;  because  back  of  all  this 
charming  indifference  to  "hard-and-fast-rules"  lies 
a  most  pestilential  indifference  to  the  distinction  be- 
tween a  comma  and  a  period;  and  because  the 
anemia  of  that  indifference  produces  in  pupils  the 
extreme  of  heedlessness  and  sloth.  Whether  good 
usage  calls  for  a  comma  with  and  is  the  pettiest 
thing  in  the  world;  whether  this  group  of  words  de- 
mands a  period  is  the  most  important  matter  in  the 
whole  range  of  formal  education.  Until  the  entire 
body  of  law  is  known  to  be  definite,  is  definitely  and 
emphatically  presented  in  texts,  is  a  definitely  re- 
quired part  of  every  English  teacher's  equipment, 
so  long  will  college  men  be  hopelessly  indefinite  as 
to  the  distinction  between  part  of  a  sentence  and  two 
sentences. 

All  too  well  we  can  imagine  the  horrors  of  what 
injudicious  persons  will  do  when  set  to  teaching 
punctuation  as  "a  system  precise  in  every  detail.' * 
Perhaps  we  must  acknowledge  that  a  large  part  of 
them  will  regard  a  comma  with  and  as  more  precious 
than  a  lively  simile.    But  that  is  the  fault  of  teach- 


152  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ers.  Punctuation  is  no  enemy  to  life  and  vigor.  Any 
teacher  whose  nature  would  make  him  too  zealous 
about  commas  is  damned  already,  is  already  injur- 
ing young  minds  by  the  exercise  of  a  dispiriting  per- 
sonality. We  shall  make  him  no  worse  by  requiring 
him  to  teach  a  precise  code.  We  shall  probably 
make  him  better,  for  his  mechanical  mind  will  no 
longer  be  deluded  by  the  fancy  that  he  is  dispensing 
a  manna  of  grace  and  charm.  And  sensible  teachers 
will  be  just  as  inspiring  as  before;  you  can't  put 
their  powers  out  of  gear  by  asking  them  to  impart  a 
simple  body  of  useful  knowledge.  Indeed  their 
energy  will  be  better  directed  if  they  are  not  in  the 
dark ;  they  will  work  with  more  assurance  and  peace 
of  mind.  They  will  give  our  young  citizens  a  much 
better  education. 

I  have  no  fear  that  they  will  repress  Young  Amer- 
ica's spontaneity.  I  make  no  proposal  to  shackle 
youth  with  commandments  or  consign  it  to  dun- 
geons of  exactitude.  In  no  way  nor  in  the  slightest 
degree  have  I  hinted  at  reducing  freedom  of  expres- 
sion. The  severest  teacher  of  the  code  might  still 
stimulate  the  fullest  liberty  of  style.  There  is  noth- 
ing in  any  paragraph  to  discourage  license  of  style, 
if  that  is  wanted  in  some  quarters.  I  have  no  thought 
of  restriction.  Yet  I  shall  be  so  understood.  There 
will  be  readers  whose  preconceptions  will  cause  them 
to  remark  when  they  have  skimmed  through,  "An- 
other mechanic!  Another  man  who  would  algebrai- 
cize  fancy  and  plot  the  flight  of  winged  words  !" 
Not  so.  This  is  a  gospel  of  freedom.  Any  author, 
young  or  old,  is  hereby  urged  to  set  down  his  emo- 
tions in  phrases  as  original  or  graceful  or  lofty  as 
his  imagination  can  body  forth.     There  is  nothing 


WHAT  IS  A  COMMA  1 

'  to  hinder  even  ecstasy.  The  most  bighly- 
vi  n  >ught  verse  of  Noyes  or  the  most  trenchant 
phrasing  of  Kipling  is  conveyed  more  tellingly  be- 
cause these  authors  have  pointed  according  to  pres- 
ent usage.  I  am  only  urging  the  necessity  of  recog- 
nizing usage  in  dealing  with  commas.  A  writer  ought] 
to  choose  words,  not  by  grace  of  Worcester,  but  by 
knowledge  of  usage;  so  that  his  design  will  not  be 
ipeckled  uncouthly.  He  ought  to  put  them  together, 
not  by  courtesy  of  parsings,  but  by  knowledge  of 
idioms;  so  that  his  design  will  not  be  askew.  And 
with  a  similar  motive  he  ought  to  separate  them  into 
srroups,  not  through  fear  of  some  "authority's" 
precepts,  but  by  knowledge  of  what  points  really 
mean  today;  so  that  his  design  will  stand  out  clear 
and  firm. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PRESENT  USAGE  IN  POINTING 

This  chapter  is  not  for  use  in  class.  Many  of  the 
questions  will  never  arise  there;  some  of  them  you 
may  never  need  to  bother  your  head  with.  It  is 
designed  to  furnish  what  I  myself  should  have  been 
so  thankful  for,  a  handy  but  ample  record  of  all  pos- 
sible ins  and  outs  of  punctuation.  If  some  of  it 
strikes  you  at  first  sight  as  going  too  much  into 
details,  remember  that  the  dictionary's  three  col- 
umns of  sub-headed  discussion  of  but  was  not  in- 
tended to  be  read  at  one  sitting.  For  reference 
purposes  a  summary  must  be  complete. 

The  man  who  supervised  the  publishing  of  the 
Century  Dictionary,  DeVinne,  got  out  in ,  1901  a 
chapter  on  punctuation;  the  critical  reader  of  the 
Standard  Dictionary,  F.  Horace  Teall,  published  the 
latest  edition  of  his  manual  in  1914;  two  English- 
men who  abridged  the  Oxford  Dictionary  wrote  a 
long  chapter  in  1906;  the  University  of  Chicago 
Manual  was  revised  in  1915.  Every  rule  that  fol- 
lows, every  least  comment,  is  in  accord  with  one  of 
these  books';  nothing  of  importance  is  in  contradic- 
tion to  any  one  of  them,  for  there  is  no  material 
difference  between  them.  No  observant  eyes  can 
look  about  upon  present  usage  without  seeing  just 
what  these  men  have  seen. 

It  is  in  codifying  that  the  differences  occur.  These 
are  partly  due  to  the  kind   of   readers   addressed. 

154 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  155 

DeVinne  wrote  for  compositors,  having  in  mind  all 
conceivable  kinds  of  printed  matter;  Teall  is  think- 
ing of  all  kinds  of  writers.  Again,  there  are  differ- 
ences due  to  the  writers'  training  and  kind  of  life, 
and  to  their  mental  make-ups.  They  attempt  one  of 
the  most  difficult  of  intellectual  feats — to  sort  out 
and  give  an  exposition  of  an  arbitrary  lot  of  social 
customs.  If  you  have  observed  how  some  of  the 
best-informed  minds  may  go  astray  in  giving  an 
account  of  the  uses  of  words,  you  will  expect  any 
writer  on  punctuation  to  fail  in  some  ways  to  be 
clear  or  consistent  or  complete  or  shrewd  in  analysis. 
Doubtless  my  arrangement  ramifies  into  too  many 
particulars.  If  I  were  trying  to  inform  the  ignorant, 
I  should  follow  a  very  different  plan.  But  you  are 
not  uninformed;  and,  if  I  can  judge  by  my  own 
wishes  when  I  consult  books  of  reference,  you  will 
prefer  a  prolix  completeness  to  a  generalization  that 
lacks  just  that  particular  point  you  wanted  to  make 
sure  of. 

A  word  as  to  the  different  manuals  that  may  be 
referred  to  if  you  wish  to  verify  or  to  get  a  different 
dew  of  what  follows.  Punctuation  by  F.  Hoi 
Teall  (Appleton)  is  a  product  of  long  experience; 
sound  and  sensible ;  it  follows  the  plan  of  '  *  reducing 
the  number  of  rules  to  the  fewest  possible.' '  Why 
We  Punctuate  by  W.  L.  Klein  (Lancet  Pub.  Co7, 
Minneapolis)  is  not  a  ready-reference  manual,  but 
an  acute  analysis  of  the  "reasons  for  the  use  of 
marks."  The  King's  English  by  H.  W.  and  F.  G. 
Fowler  has  a  most  useful  chapter  on  punctuation 
wliielTgoes  at  length  into  many  moot  points,  illus- 
trating in  i  chatty  style  and  commenting  with  a  good 
sense  that  never  fails.    It  is  not  an  orderly  code  tor 


156  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ready  reference,  but  is  a  cornucopia  of  wisdom. 
X  The  safest,  most  usable,  and  most  compendious 
guide  is  A  Manual  for  Writers  published  by  the 
University  of  Chicago  Press.  Its  authors  are  Pro- 
fessor Manly,  head  of  the  department  of  English, 
and  John  Arthur  Powell,  an  editor  for  the  Univer- 
sity Press. 

No  faith  on  this  globe  is  so  firmly  held  as  that  an 
all-embracing  code  cannot  be  framed.  The  first — 
and  the  last — principal  or  fellow-teacher  that  you 
consult  will  warn  you  against  any  hope  of  account- 
ing in  advance  for  " every  possible  case  of  doubt.' ' 
Even  Teall  thinks  that  "probably  it  cannot  be 
done."  The  answer  is:  "Try  to  find  the  case  that 
this  code  does  not  clearly  account  for."  Propose 
to  your  adviser  that  he  prepare  a  list  of  five  doubts, 
not  that  "could  not"  be  provided  for,  but  that  are 
not  actually  provided  for  in  the  following  summary. 

You  will  also  be  warned  against  "rigid  rules." 
The  reply  is  that  there  is  precious  little  rigidity 
about  these  rules,  that  they  cannot  possibly  hamper 
or  stiffen  any  sensible  writer  in  the  least.  They 
merely  record  what  points  signify  in  current  usage, 
and  their  only  purpose  is  to  enable  a  writer  to  have 
free  trade  with  his  reader.  Ignorance  of  them  is  a 
very  real  restriction ;  knowledge  of  them  is  freedom 
from  bondage. 

Some  of  these  rules  (the  vocative,  e.  g.)  are  pure 
conventions,  but  are  so  universally  observed  that  a 
writer  who  disregards  them  may  be  thought  ignorant 
or  presumptuous.  Most  of  them,  however,  can  be 
applied  only  after  we  have  answered  the  question, 
"What  is  the  meaning?"  A  writer  who  does  not 
know  the  code  distorts  the  meaning  that  he  wants 


USAGE  IX  POINTING  161 

to  convey.  Hence  in  handling  unpunctuated  sen- 
tences with  a  class  the  attack  must  always  he,  "What 
di«l  the  author  mean?  What  must  he  have  meant!" 
pupil  can  make  out  any  case  at  all  to  prove  that 
those  words  in  that  order  might  mean  what  you 
never  thought  of  their  meaning,  he  must  have  credit 
He  must  even  be  commended.  A  situation  of  that 
sort,  where  teacher  expected  one  thing  and  pupil 
proved  that  quite  another  was  possible,  is  often  the 
most  lively  illustration  to  a  class  of  the  great  prin- 
ciple :  \\ .   must  know  what  we  are  trying  to  express. 


The  exclamation  mark  is  used  after  any  form  of 
sentence  to  show  that  the  writer  is  not  asking  a  real 
question  or  giving  a  real  command  or  stating  a  fact 
or  wish,  but  is  exclaiming  emotionally.  It  is  most 
commonly  used  thus:  Oh,  what  a  sight  it  was!  But 
it  shows  the  point  of  greatest  emotion,  and  hence 
there  are  these  arrangements:  Alas!  this  is  all  too 
true.  Good  heavens!  look  at  that!  There  is — alas! — 
no  other  way.  Sometimes  a  series  of  exclamations  or 
brief  questions  are  printed  without  capitals.  This 
is  because  they  are  to  appear  as  one  sentence,  as  if 
there  were  semicolons  between.  But  no  semicolon 
or  comma  is  ever  used  with  the  mark  of  exclamation 
or  question. 

Indirect  questions  end  with  a  period.  I  asked  him 
what  he  was  doing.  The  period  is  not  needed  after 
headings  nor  after  words  written  in  a  column;  in- 
<l  such  a  use  is  offensive  to  most  modern  printers. 
8  period  is  not  used  after  contractions  written 
with  an  apostrophe  (i.  e.,  the  two  marks  are  not  used 
with  the  same  word),  nor  after  12th,  2nd,  etc 


4 


158  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

THE  COMMA 

Uses  of  the  comma  can  be  conveniently  grouped 
under  three  heads,  of  which  the  third  is  very  com- 
prehensive. 

I.  Yes,  no,  and  all  vocatives  are  set  off.  No,  he  is 
not  here.  Yes,  it  is  difficult,  my  dear  sir,  to  keep 
from  laughing.  Yes  and  no  may  be  followed  by 
semicolons  or  even  periods  to  show  that  they  have 
the  importance  of  complete  statements.  No;  that 
appears  to  me  quite  improper.  Yes.  After  long  con- 
sultation we  have  agreed.  No  comma  is  used  between 
0  and  the  immediately  following  vocative.  0  Moon, 
how  farest  thou? 

II.  Words,  phrases,  or  clauses  used  as  uncon- 
nected, coordinate  items  of  a  series  are  separated, 
(a)  Two  adjectives  not  coordinate  in  descriptive 
value  are  not  separated,  because  the  first  rather 
qualifies  all  that  comes  after  it.  Pretty  little  flower, 
queer  old  codger.  This  is  extended  to  a  series  of 
three  or  even  four  adjectives  if  the  writer  really 
means  to  indicate  that  he  is  building  up  a  modify- 
ing mass  instead  of  a  series  of  like  modifiers.  That 
sad  patient  living  strength  is  an  extreme  type,  (b) 
There  may  be  a  series  of  pairs.  We  have  to  pay 
extra  for  tea  and  coffee,  cheese  and  salads,  fruit  and 
sweets,  (c)  When  and  is  used  only  between  the  last 
two  items,  a  comma  must  be  used  with  it.  Make 
this  graphic  to  a  class  by  showing  that  without  the 
comma  the  series  looks  like  x  +  (y  +  z) ;  we  want  it 
to  look  like  x  +  y  +  z.  (d)  There  is  usually  no  comma 
before  and  Co.:  Scott,  Foresman  and  Company, 
(e)  In  general  no  comma  is  to  be  used  after  the  last 
item,  because  the  meaning  of  such  a  comma  would 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  159 

be  "this  last  item,  or  each  item  since  the  first,  is 
parenthetical*"  Sometimes  this  effect  is  desired,  as 
in  Cheerfully,  even  jauntily,  he  advanced  to  the 
■caff old.  (f )  Repetition  is  a  form  of  series,  in  which 
the  last  item  may  be  shown  as  parenthetical  for 
emphasis:  The  walls,  the  very  walls,  are  woven  of 
dreams. 

(g)  Mature  writers  who  know  just  what  they  are 
about  often  employ  a  comma  to  separate  independent 
statements  that  are  brief,  similar,  and  obviously 
parallel  or  contrasting  in  thought:  The  same  mis- 
leading statements  continue  to  be  made,  the  same 
exploded  falsehoods  continue  to  be  repeated.  But 
this  use  is  a  delicate  balance  of  meanings,  and  can 
<>r  be  tolerated  in  school.  It  is  deadly  there. 
(See  a  further  discussion  under  The  Semicolon.) 
Modern  usage  is  chary  of  such  a  form,  though  it 
much  more  frequently  indulges  in  a  series  of  three 
sentences.  If  this  is  novel  to  you,  if  it  seems  unrea- 
sonable, forbear  all  logic.  Accept  it.  It  is  the  fact. 
In  the  Outlook  editorials  of  one  issue  are:  Belgium 
was  an  international  minor;  Greece  was  an  adult.  A 
letter  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  always 
read,  accidents  are  discussed,  and  methods  of  pre- 
vention are  taught.  It  is  unsafe  to  mention  such 
possibilities  to  a  class,  though  it  may  not  be  neces- 
sary to  mark  them  wrong  on  a  theme. 

(h)  In  certain  cases  the  comma  is  used  with' co- 
ordinating conjunctions  in  a  series.  One  case  lias 
been  explained  (c,  above).  There  are  two  others, 
which  must  be  prefaced  by  a  classification.  The 
following  are  not  conjunctions  at  all  in  a  discussion 
of  punctuation,  but  are  independent  adverbs,  to  be 
used  after  a  semicolon  or  period:  accordingly,  con- 


160  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

sequentiy,  however,  indeed,  moreover,  nevertheless, 
still,  then,  therefore.  There  is  one  big  cause  of  con- 
fusion out  of  the  way.  Interwoven  with  it  is  the 
grammatical  distinction  between  dependent  and  in- 
dependent clauses.  Thus  for  is  regularly  classified 
as  "independent,"  as  equivalent  to  "and  the  reason 
is";  while  because  is  called  "dependent,"  equiva- 
lent to  "for  the  reason  that."  Similarly  though  is 
called  dependent  in  a  concessive  use  and  independ- 
ent when  equivalent  to  but.  Such  demarcations  are 
the  subtlest  of  puzzles,  beyond  the  province  of  mere 
grammar.  They  are  refinements  which,  as  Matzner 
says,  cannot  be  demonstrated  in  some  cases.  In 
school  use  for  is  regularly  subordinating,  though  is 
coordinating.  A  generation  ago  so  was  hardly  ad- 
mitted to  the  Century  as  a  conjunction;  now  it  is 
in  the  commonest  use  (fearfully  common  in  school) 
for  so  that,  subordinating.  With  all  these  psycho- 
logical values  we  need  have  no  concern.  All  doubt- 
ful or  variant  functions  group  themselves  quite 
naturally  under  III,  5,  as  subordinating.  This  sec- 
tion deals  only  with  those  that  link  or  contrast  two 
equal  units.  Those  that  link  are  and,  or,  and  some 
correlatives ;  those  that  contrast  are  but  and  a  num- 
ber of  others  often  used  as  equivalent :  yet,  though, 
while,  and  sometimes  nor  and  only. 

(i)  The  link-words  are  not  to  be  pointed  whenever 
it  is  easily  apparent  that  they  are  joining  two  coor- 
dinate items  in  a  series.  This  often  extends  to  the 
two  clauses  of  a  short  compound  sentence.  But  if 
the  reader  might  suppose  that  these  conjunctions  are 
joining  the  following  word,  while  they  really  are 
joining  a  whole  group,  warn  the  eye  by  a  comma. 
One  or  two  of  them  had  pistols,  and  a  great  many 


I  SAGE   i\   POINTING  161 

muskets  lay  in  a  berth.    The  comma  shows  that  and 
does  not  join  pistols  and  muskets. 

(j)  If  the  two  items  (especially  clauses)  are  to  be 

shown  as  dissimilar  in  time,  mood,  subject,  or  form 

tatniM nt,  use  a  comma.    This  is  often  the  case 

with  or.    Do  so  at  once,  or  you  shall  suffer  for  it    It 

nost  noticeable  when  and  is  used  with  another  con- 
junction or  an  adverb:  and  80f  and  hence,  and  then, 
and  not.  Occasionally  two  coordinate  words  have  dif- 
nt  constructions  dependent  on  thorn:  Eat,  and 
drink  this  wine. 

(k)  The  adversatives  like  but  might  almost  be 
said  to  demand  a  comma  by  their  "inherent  qual- 
ity." I  am  only  too  well  aware  that  this  use  is  not 
pointed  out  in  rhetorics  and  manuals,  hut  it  is  evei 
where  scrupulously  observed.  "Comma  before 
conjunction  but"  is  always  to  be  insisted  on. 
The  following  from  the  Evening  Post  of  one  issue 
show  a  universal  practice:  not  theories,  but  things; 
warmly  human,  yet  critically  stimulating.  Rhet- 
orics hanlly  even  recommend  the  following,  but  they 
are  required  by  our  court:  She  is  unconquered, 
not  because  of  patriotism,  but  because  of  the 
Channel.  Not  only  wasps,  but  all  the  bees.  The 
comma  is  not  unusual  even  in  poor  but  honest 
parents. 

(1)  The  handy  half-truth  for  school  use  is  "  Put  a 
comma  before  the  conjunction  between  the  parts  of 
a  compound  sentence.' '  This  is  usually  right  and 
never  entirely  wrong,  though  it  countenances  such 
a  needless  comma  as  His  father  was  Irish,  and  his 
mother  was  Scotch. 

III.  Parenthetical  uses  can  be  displayed  more 
easily  for  reference  by  arranging  them  in  five  divi- 


162  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

sions,  of  which  the  fifth  presents  the  most  difficult 
problem  in  rhetoric. 

1.  Appositives  are  set  off.  (a)  Unless  they  are 
customarily  thought  of  or  spoken  as  a  solid  phrase, 
like  the  poet  Milton,  my  son  John,  I  myself,  your  old 
wife  Joan.  This  last  is  a  very  questionable  example, 
for  it  looks  in  print  as  if  she  were  one  of  two  or  three 
wives,  (b)  Titles  and  degrees  that  follow  a  name 
are  written  as  appositives.  A.  C.  Wyeth,  M.  P. 
J.  Langdon  Short,  Ph.D.  (c)  An  appositive  may 
have  or  before  it.  Mrs.  Tulliver's  teraphim,  or 
household  gods,  (d)  Pupils  always  think  when 
studying  grammar  that  an  objective  predicate  is  an 
appositive,  and  they  sometimes  point  it  so.  Duncan 
made  Macbeth  Thane  of  Cawdor. 

2.  The  successive  items  of  an  address  and  of  a 
date  are  set  off.  Goldsmith  was  born  at  Pallas, 
County  Longford,  Ireland,  on  November  10,  1728, 
the  fifth  of  eight  children,  (a)  The  comma  before 
the  name  of  a  state  is  usually  said  to  show  an 
omitted  in,  but  commas  are  not  used  nowadays  to 
show  omissions.  Moreover  the  "  omission' *  idea 
does  not  account  for  the  comma  after  the  state;  it 
is  "both  sides"  that  needs  emphasis,  (b)  No 
comma  is  used  between  the  month  and  the  day  of 
the  month,  nor  in  such  a  form  as  in  the  year  1782, 
nor  between  the  number  and  the  street,  nor  before 
b.c,  a.m.,  etc.  (c)  The  majority  of  letter-writers 
and  nearly  all  stenographers  put  commas  at  the  ends 
of  lines  when  such  items  occur  as  the  heading  of  a 
letter;  almost  as  great  a  majority  still  use  them  in 
addressing  an  envelope.  But  the  use  is  old-fash- 
ioned, is  not  in  favor  among  those  whose  opinion 
is  worth  most,  and  is  sure  to  die  before  long.    Such 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  163 

commas  accomplish  nothing  but  unsightliness.  Peri- 
ods for  abbreviations  must  be  used  at  the  ends  of 
lines. 

Allan  McCord,  Esq. 
14  South  Avenue 
Lancaster 

Indiana 

3.  Words,  phrases,  and  clauses  used  somewhat 
parenthetically  are  set  off.  Specially  common  exam- 
ples are  however,  nevertheless,  too,  then,  indeed,  in 
fact,  in  the  second  place,  it  seems,  they  say.  (a)  How- 
ever  is  nearly  always  parenthetical,  but  no  expres- 
sion is  in  itself  parenthetical.  There  can  never  be 
any  rule  about  what  must  be  done  with  this  word 
or  that  phrase;  it  is  always  a  question  of  "Do  I 
wish  to  have  this  understood  as  parenthetical ?" 
(b)  The  best  judgment  of  today  is  to  be  sparing 
about  pointing  such  modal  adverbs  as  indeed,  per- 
haps, possibly,  because  they  are  much  more  likely 
to  be  close  modifiers  in  the  writer's  actual  thought, 
and  because  if  he  insists  on  expressing  himself  with 
so  many  jerky  asides  he  tires  us.  In  the  following  the 
writers  are  most  likely  using  the  words  parenthet- 
ical! y :  There  is,  indeed,  no  other  possible  reason.  It 
is  conceivable,  perhaps,  that  Jane  lied.  Scott  may 
have  decided,  possibly,  that  suicide  was  justifiable. 
In  the  following  the  words  are  close  modifiers:  In- 
deed you  may.  You  can  perhaps  be  of  some  assist- 
ance. There  may  possibly  be  a  better  road.  There  is 
a  story  of  an  eminent  university  official  who  called 
up  an  editor's  office  to  say  that  he  feared  he  had 
omitted  the  commas  with  a  perhaps,  his  notion  be- 
ing that  the  word,  not  the  thought,  required  point- 


164  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ing.  (c)  Always  think  of  such  words  and  phrases 
as  questions  of  "both  sides.' '  Never  discuss  them 
as  introductory.  If  they  begin  a  sentence,  their 
position  does  not  necessitate  a  comma;  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  whether  they  would  have  two  commas  if  they 
were  transplanted  to  the  middle  of  the  sentence. 
This  "both  sides"  idea  is  most  important  also  with 
terminal  expressions,  as  will  be  seen  when  it  comes 
to  the  dash.  You  and  your  pupils  will  always  be 
in  danger  unless  your  test  is  "How  would  it  be  in 
the  middle  of  the  sentence  V9  ( d )  Phrases  are  never 
pointed  because  they  are  introductory.  Pupils  are 
passionately  fond  of  that  comma  and  can  with  diffi- 
culty be  reconciled  to  omitting  it  after  even  such  a 
brief  phrase  as  In  1856  he  sailed  for  Europe;  much 
less  are  they  content  with  Through  the  plate-glass 
windows  of  his  office  in  the  tenth  story  of  the  Metro- 
politan Building  we  could  see  her  funnels.  But  no 
comma  is  called  for  after  Building.  The  modern 
notion  is  that  phrases  ought  not  to  be  "out  of  their 
natural  order,"  that  a  writer  ought  to  place  them 
coherently,  that  commas  would  usually  belie  his 
real  meaning  by  indicating  that  the  phrase 
is  parenthetical.  (e)  Occasionally  a  well-placed 
phrase  may  happen  to  create  a  misunderstanding  of 
construction — e.  g.,  In  comparison  with  this  more 
expensive  food  means  nothing,  where  at  first  glance 
a  reader  might  think  it  was  this  food.  So  the  eye 
might  erroneously  read  greeting  on  the  deck  in  the 
following:  But  during  all  the  greeting  on  the  deck 
lies  the  body  of  the  dead  captain.  Modern  usage 
tolerates  a  comma  in  such  predicaments  if  there  is 
real  need  of  disjoining  a  modifier — not  otherwise. 
Real  need  is  rare.     In  This,   Gareth  hearing  and 


USAGE  IN   POINTING  165 

King,  of  the  Khyber  Rifles  the  authors  have  done 

is  a  doubtful  service,    (f)  Etc.  is  always 

red  parenthetical;  also  conversational  U 

and  why  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence;  and  usually 

versational  now  is  pointed  to  distinguish  it  from 

the  adverb  of  time.    Well,  what  do  you  say?  Why,  I 

hardly  know.    Now,  that  is  just  the  point. 

4.  Participial  and  other  adjectival  expressions 
that  modify  in  an  appositive  way  are  set  off.  But 
Nat,  fearing  some  trick,  would  not  enter.  My  wife, 
pale  and  trembling,  clasped  her  little  ones.  Struck 
by  this  answer,  the  judge  paused,  (a)  Such  parti- 
eiples  are  extremely  common  in  themes — altogether 
too  common.  For  pupils  who  have  had  Latin  see 
and  hear  ablative  absolutes  so  constantly  that  they 
Blip  into  the  way  of  requiring  all  sorts  of  work  from 
an  English  participle,  work  for  which  our  verbal  is 
not  strong  enough — e.  g.,  Trudging  along  wearily, 
after  a  sleepless  night,  no  farm-house  was  anywhere 
to  be  seen,  (b)  Participles  are  often  predicate 
adjectives  or  objective  predicates  and  not  to  bo 
off:  The  wind  goes  whistling.  The  rope  could  be 
seen  dangling.  We  found  him  hunting,  (c)  They 
«>tten  close  modifiers:  The  man  walking  on  the 
other  side  sees  us.  (d)  By  a  curious  perversity 
pupils  who  are  careless  about  Rounding  the  buoy, 
we  started  for  home  will  put  a  comma  in  After 
rounding  the  buoy  we  started  for  home  or  in  Round- 
ing the  buoy  was  not  difficult,  (e)  Sometimes  an 
word  that  looks  like  such  a  participle  is  in 
ailing  an  ellipsis  for  a  closely-modifying  clan-'  : 
Coming  down  he  felt  all  right  (-"when  ho  was 
coming  down"),  (f)  Non-restrictive  phrases  are 
to  be  set  off:  His  legs  were  thick,  like  an  alligator's. 


166  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

The  scenery  was  placid,  with  now  and  then  some 
cottages.  The  room  in  which  he  sat,  with  its  simple 
furniture.  The  scenery  was  not  "placid  with  cot- 
tages ' ' ;  the  man  did  not  ' '  sit  with  furniture. ' '  But 
non-restrictive  phrases  seldom  have  a  right  to  exist; 
they  usually  result  from  ambiguous  arrangement  of 
words,  (g)  In  a  sentence  like  the  following  the 
comma  is  often  omitted  before  the  participle :  He  was 
fagged  out;  but  wishing  to  be  polite,  he  began  a 
conversation.  This  is  to  show  that  wishing  is  not 
parenthetical  after  but;  it  is  appositive  before  he. 
For  school  use,  however,  such  a  nicety  should  not 
be  mentioned.    "Both  sides' '  is  your  maxim. 

5.  Non-restrictive  clauses  are  set  off.  Though 
he  was  dishonest,  he  was  loyal.  We  were  led  to  a 
little  clearing,  where  the  children  had  a  play-house. 
These  often  appear  as  introductory  or  terminal,  are 
often  so  classified;  but  ought  to  be  thought  of  as 
somewhat  parenthetical,  as  "both  sides"  matters. 
The  great  question  always  is  "Does  the  clause  modi- 
fy closely V  There  is  no  universal  formula  for 
getting  the  answer.  The  most  generally  applicable 
test  that  I  know  is  "Does  the  clause  mean  that 
particular  one  or  that  particular  kind  oft"  As  a 
matter  of  fact  we  adults  "feel"  that  it  is  not  re- 
strictive, and  our  account  of  that  feeling  is  likely 
to  be  that  there  is  a  slight  pause  in  reading.  There 
is  a  pause;  that  is  a  pretty  sure  test  for  us.  But 
this  is  vague,  very  often  misleading,  and  it  encour- 
ages that  deadly  comma-shows-a-pause  notion. 
Again,  we  analyze  our  feeling  by  saying  that  the 
clause  is  not  so  essential  to  the  principal  idea,  that 
taking  it  out  would  not  detract  essentially;  whereas 
the  removal  of  a  restrictive  clause  leaves  a  mere 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  167 

grammatical  skeleton  like  Make  hay  or  No  boy  can 
be  popular.  Hut  this  too  is  vague  and  is  seldom  use- 
ful. For  us  and  for  the  pupils  there  is  only  one  test 
that  I  have  yet  discovered:  that  particular  one.  It 
applies  to  all  varieties  of  clauses — thus:  (1)  "for 
that  particular  reason",  (2)  "at  that  particular 
time  when",  (3)  "at  that  particular  place  where", 
(4)  "for  the  particular  purpose  of",  (5)  "with  that 
particular  man  who",  (6)  "in  the  particular  way 
thai"  Examples  are:  ( 1 )  They  fight  because  they 
are  attacked,  (2)  He  came  when  we  were  sitting 
down  to  dinner,  (3)  Look  in  the  drawer  where  he 
keeps  his  money,  (4)  He  died  that  we  might  be 
saved,  (5)  We  finally  detected  the  man  who  was 
making  the  trouble,  (6)  They  were  grouped  as 
actors  are  at  the  end  of  a  play.  But  notice  how  as 
adds  another  idea  in  the  following:  They  were 
grouped  with  reference  to  an  audience,  as  actors  are 
at  the  end  of  a  play.  A  pupil  who  has  learned  that 
brick  of  experimenting  by  saying  "that  particular" 
before  the  antecedent  of  the  clause  may  conquer  a 
mystery  that  would  otherwise  forever  baffle  him.  I 
speak  of  it  at  length  because  I  searched  so  long  be- 
fore I  found  it,  and  after  I  had  it  for  relatives  was 
still  another  couple  of  years  in  applying  it  to  all  the 
others. 

Pupils  always  hope  for  a  rule  that  there  must  be 
a  comma  before  because,  where,  etc.  There  is  no 
such  thing.  The  writer  must  decide  whether  he 
means  for  the  particular  reason  tlmt,  at  the  par- 
t tenia r  place  where.  Bright  students  will  see  the 
absurdity  of  "Don't  go  for  the  particular  reason 
that  you  might  catch  smallpox"  or  "He  lived  in 
that   particular    Florida    where  there  is  never  any 


168  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ice."  When  dull  ones  think  these  sound  rational, 
try  the  alternatives:  " Don't  go,  and  the  reason  for 
not  going  is"  and  "He  lived  in  Florida,  arid  there 
is  never  any  ice  there."  They  are  always  to  inquire 
whether  it  seems  more  like  that  particular  or  like 
and,  whether  it  limits  closely  or  is  added  on.  The 
"added  on"  test  may  prove  more  convincing  for 
such  restrictive  clauses  as  I  have  a  ring  which  my 
father  used  to  wear.  We  found  a  restaurant  where 
there  was  no  orchestra.  Sometimes  the  truth  is 
readily  apparent  from  the  direct  question — the  fun- 
damental one — "Does  it  modify  closely?  Does  it 
'run  along  solid'  in  meaning?" 

If  this  seems  to  you  like  depending,  after  all,  on 
"Is  there  a  pause?"  be  warned  that  it  is  nothing  of 
the  kind.  If  you  can  leave  the  whole  non-restrictive 
problem  half  taught  (and  many  schools  have  to),  the 
pause  explanation  is  the  primrose  path.  But  it  is 
the  path  of  endless  error.  Compare  the  time-halt  be- 
fore the  two  following  clauses  from  Kipling  and  see 
how  debatable  the  questions  of  pointing  remain  : 

And  once  from  the  north  where  he  had  doubled 
back  eight  hundred  miles. 

"There  is  no  holding  the  young  pony  from  the 
game,"  said  the  horse-dealer  when  the  Col- 
onel pointed  out  that  vagabonding  was  absurd. 

How  you  will  pause,  because  you  detect  which  clause 
is  restrictive,  is  not  the  point.  What  will  the  pupil 
do  when  he  is  trying  to  find  out  which  is  restrictive  ? 
But  as  soon  as  you  apply  "from  that  particular 
north  where"  and  "at  that  particular  time  when 
the  Colonel  pointed  out,"  you  will  get  light.  I  can 
testify  that  the  hour  when  I  first  saw  the  value  of 


\»,i;  in  POINTING 

this  test  marks  an  epoob  in  my  experience.    Before 
that  I  could  never  make  headway 

(a)  The  following  always  introduce  non-res 
tive  clauses:    (1)  as  and  (2)  since  showing  a  reason, 
(3)  for,  (4)  so  and  so  that  showing  result.     (1)  He 
refused  to  join  us,  as  he  was  suspicious  of  our  pur- 
pose.   The  omission  of  this  comma  before  "as  that 

a  reason"  is  the  sure  mark  of  an  uneducated 
or  unsensitive  mind,  and  is  an  extremely  common 
fault  in  school  composition.  (2)  Since  there's  no 
help,  come,  let  us  kiss  and  part.  (3)  Don't  hurry, 
for  you  have  plenty  of  time.  (4)  The  porter  had 
been  most  unobliging,  so  we  gave  him  no  tip.  The 
natives  were  in  an  ugly  mood,  so  that  our  plight  was 
really  serious.  So  that  showing  propose  may  occa- 
sionally be  restrictive.  The  dance  was  cut  short  so 
that  we  might  take  the  midnight  boat  (i.  e.,  "in 
order  that  we  might") « 

(b)  Some  novelists  and  all  secondary  students 
are  excessively  fond  of  additive  whens  and  wheres. 
In  this  manner  we  all  sat  ruminating  upon  schemes 
of  vengeance,  when  the  other  little  boy  came  run- 
ning in.  Her  object  was  to  gain  a  small  port  about 
two  leagues  distant,  where  she  had  provided  a 
vessel  for  her  escape.  If  used,  they  must  have  the 
comma,  and  the  necessity  for  the  comma  can  best  be 
shown  by  explaining  them  as  equivalent  to  and  then, 

1  there. 

(c)  The  relative  that  is  usually  restrictive,  though 
non-restriotive  uses  are  not  rare.  This  is  the  cat 
that  ate  the  rat  that  lived  in  the  house  that 
Jack  built.     Whoever,  whatever,  etc.,  are  ahraj  i 

trietive    if   they    are    relatives.      Whoever    did 
such  a  deed  ought  to  confess   (in  which  whoever  is 


170  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

a  relative,  having  for  its  antecedent  the  understood 
he  that  is  the  subject  of  ought).  Whatever  he  puts 
his  strong  hand  to  is  sure  to  succeed.  But  in  such 
constructions  as  Whoever  he  is,  I'm  not  afraid  of 
him  the  whoever  clause  is  adverbial,  modifying  am. 

(d)  Noun  clauses  used  as  subject  or  object  should 
never  be  set  off.  That  my  colleague  and  I  should 
have  decided  to  leave  our  usual  guide  at  home  during 
the  one  successful  trip  of  the  year  seemed  a  perver- 
sity of  fate.  They  may  be  long,  the  eye  may  need  a 
rest,  there  may  be  a  pause,  many  editors  still  use  a 
comma  after  a  long  subject,  most  rhetorics  prefer  it 
— in  spite  of  all  those  pseudo-reasons  the  practice  is 
so  antagonistic  to  present  notions  that  it  is  surely 
dying,  is  all  but  dead.  Even  in  such  occasional  oddi- 
ties as  Whatever  is  is  right  it  is  better  not  to  try  to 
make  a  comma  do  what  it  is  not  fitted  to  do.  The 
Century  prints  the  quotation  ' '  That  that  is  is ' '  with- 
out a  comma.  Noun  clauses  used  as  appositives  are 
not  set  off  except  for  giving  the  effect  of  "namely" 
or  "as  follows."  The  idea  that  the  earth  is  round 
was  not  original  with  Columbus.  No  saying  was 
oftener  in  his  mouth  than  that  fine  apothegm  of 
Bentley,  that  no  man  was  ever  written  down  but  by 
himself. 

(e)  Clauses  of  comparison  introduced  by  than, 
so  .  .  .  that,  as  ...  as  are  not  pointed.  He  was  so 
much  engrossed  in  his  delicate  task  of  measuring  the 
infinitesimal  difference  that  he  did  not  look  up. 

(f)  The  introductory  adverb  clause  is  about  the 
only  matter  in  which  present  usage  is  not  settled. 
When  the  Mogul  asks  for  the  rents  which  were  re- 
served to  him  by  that  very  grant,  he  is  told  that  he 
is  a  mere  pageant.     (An  adverb  clause  is  the  only 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  171 

kind  that  can  properly  be  called  "introductory.") 
Introductory  phrases  used  to  be  pointed,  and  to  this 
day  there  is  a  very  prevalent  feeling  that  if  they  are 
long  they  should  have  the  comma.  But  the  modern 
system  knows  nothing  about  relative  length;  it  is 
based  on  disjunction  in  meaning,  and  it  rules  that 
after  a  coherent  introductory  phrase  there  is  no  dis- 
junction. All  signs  are  that  the  clause  is  going  the 
same  course.  Most  careful  weeklies  still  insert  the 
comma,  but  the  newspapers  are  indifferent  to  it;  and 
newspapers  have  thus  far  in  history  infallibly  shown 
what  the  conservatives  were  going  to  do  later.  Their 
<  ditors  are  studious  to  make  matter  easy  to  read,  are 
more  sympathetic,  can  venture  to  try  experiments, 
watch  each  other's  style  shrewdly,  adopt  readily 
what  proves  advantageous.  One  of  the  most  con- 
servative punctuators  in  the  country  has  declared 
that  what  the  dailies  do  now  the  weeklies  will  soon 
be  doing.  Hence  little  attention  need  be  paid  to 
pointing  an  introductory  clause,  though  it  is  still  com- 
mon custom.  I  require  it  in  exercises,  but  do  not 
follow  it  up  much.  Even  conservatives  will  not  find 
fault  with  an  uncommaed  clause  if  it  is  in  any  sense 
restrictive.  Introductory  clauses  with  as,  since,  and 
though  are  always  pointed,  and  if  clauses  usually 
are.  However,  in  the  following  example  the  if  clause 
is  so  close  a  modifier  within  the  that  clause  that  most 
journalists  would  not  like  to  break  up  the  coherence 
with  a  comma:  The  modern  notion  is  that  if  a  phrase 
is  out  of  its  natural  order  a  writer  has  been  clumsy. 
A  -imilar  case  is  s<>< m  in  The  police,  or  "bulls"  as  he 
calls  them,  are  friendly.  A  comma  before  as  would 
be  logical,  but  would  deceive  the  eye  by  break  tag 
the  continuity  of  the  whole  interjected  expression. 


172  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

If  an  author  wishes  a  comma  in  such  a  parenthesis, 
he  should  use  dashes  to  set  off  the  whole.  The  police 
— or  "  bulls/ '  as  he  calls  them — are  friendly. 

(g)  And  even  if  you  can't  see  why,  do  as  I  ask. 
There  would  be  reason  in  putting  commas  around 
the  if  clause,  but  the  reasons  against  it  are  stronger : 
(1)  The  clause  would  look  parenthetical,  (2)  and  is 
not  joining  simply  do  as  I  ask,  but  the  whole  con- 
ditional complex  idea.  The  comma  after  such  an 
initial  conjunction  is  omitted. 

(h)  The  main  clause  that  introduces  a  direct 
quotation  is  set  off.  f  '  Quit  worrying, ' '  said  he, ! !  and 
go  to  work."  No  capital  is  used  after  the  interrupt- 
ing words,  but  the  beginning  of  the  quotation  is 
capitalized.  He  shouted  across  the  water,  ' 'We've 
lost  an  oar."  No  comma  is  used  with  another  point, 
such  as  a  question  mark.  " Where  are  we?"  he 
whispered.  "Oh,  you  scoundrel!"  she  hissed.  An 
indirect  quotation  is  regularly  left  unpointed  nowa- 
days; quotation  marks  were  formerly  frequent  in 
novels.  I  declared  that  my  only  wish  was  to  help 
him.  No  comma  or  capital  should  be  used  with  a 
quoted  expression  that  is  used  as  a  component  part 
of  the  sentence.  The  statement  that  we  have  "moiled 
and  pothered  too  long"  is  only  partially  true. 

(i)  Pupils  of  intelligence  have  often  formed  the 
habit  of  putting  a  comma  at  the  beginning  of  a  line. 
They  will  agree  that  this  is  absurd — and  then  do  it 
again  the  next  week. 

(j)     "When  in  doubt  as  to  using  a  comma,  don't. 

THE  SEMICOLON 

^  The  semicolon  is  used  between  the  items  of  a  series 
if  one  of  the  items  contains  a  comma.    A  civic  digni- 


USAGE   IN   POINTING  173 

tary,  being  ill,  and  fanciful  in  proportion,  went  from 
doctor  to  doctor;  and  having  arrived  at  death's  door, 
sent  for  Peter.  This  is  not  necessarily  because  of  the 
importance  of  the  items,  but  in  order  that  a  sentence 
may  not  appear  divided  into  more  parts  than  it 
m  tually  contains,  in  order  that  the  main  parts  may 
be  easily  recognizable.  The  stock  illustration  is  an 
editorial  type  of  sentence  containing  three  members, 
each  of  which  has  commas  within  it.  Needless  to 
say,  students  seldom  compose  in  that  style.  This 
principle  of  the  "one-commaed  item"  is  applied  by 
heedful  writers  to  compound  sentences  whose  brev- 
ity might  not  seem  to  require  a  semicolon.  Glance 
at  the  following:  This  must  sound  queer  to  you,  and 
even  though  I  had  leisure  to  explain,  you  might  not 
be  convinced.  It  appears  at  first  glance  to  consist 
of  three  coordinate  clauses,  but  in  fact  there  are  only 
two.  A  semicolon  before  and  is  preferable,  not  be- 
cause of  the  length  of  what  follows,  but  because  at 
that  point  there  is  greater  disjunction  of  meaning 
than  after  explain.  The  idea  could  have  been  well 
applied  to  the  following,  quoted  from  a  writer  whose 
style  is  usually  crisp  and  clear:  More  and  more  he 
was  being  forgotten,  though,  he  saw,  and  it  was  this 
which  troubled  him.  The  same  rule  that  was  given 
for  a  commaed  series  holds  for  a  semicoloned  seri< 
if  only  the  last  two  items  are  joined  by  and,  the 
semicolon  must  be  used  with  it.  I  saved  his  life  from 
a  bear;  he  mine  in  the  Rhine,  for  he  swims  like  a 
duck  and  I  like  a  hod  o'  bricks;  and  we  saved  one 
another's  lives  at  an  inn  in  Burgundy. 

Its  great  us<-  is  to  show  thai  sentences  grammati- 
(•ally  independent  are  closely  connected  in  thought. 
He  can't  hear;  he's  deaf.    The  >t  niggle  to  plant  that 


174  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

conception  in  young  minds  is  harder  and  very  much 
more  important  than  any  other  labor  in  composition. 
We  have  seen  that  the  principal  objective  of  gram- 
mar is  that  conception.  It  could  almost  be  said  that 
the  aim  of  all  drill  in  punctuation  is  to  know  what 
commas  are,  so  that  they  will  not  be  used  to  sepa- 
rate sentences.  No  other  idea  in  rhetoric  has  a  tithe 
of  the  importance  that  attaches  to  grammatically 
independent,  though  connected  in  thought.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  overstate  either  the  value  or  the  diffi- 
culty of  establishing  this  notion  as  a  habit  of  mind, 
so  that  a  pupil  will  jump  if  he  finds  himself  about 
to  commit  the  high  crime.*  The  work  should  be 
done  mostly  in  the  grammar  grades,  and  some  time 
it  will  be ;  but  at  present  college  instructors  have  to 
battle  against  sentence-errors. 
^  One  device  that  helps  is  to  present  correct  forms 
in  pairs: 

<  The  deer  paused;  this  was  what  I  expected. 
The  deer  paused,  which  was  what  I  expected. 

We  needn't  run;  it's  not  late. 
We  needn't  run,  for  it's  not  late. 

Teach  that  the  comma  alone  will  never  do;  there 
must  be  either  a  semicolon,  or  a  comma  with  a  con- 
joining word. 

The  converse  kind  of  sentence-error — pointing  a 
phrase  or  clause  with  a  semicolon — is  not  so  common 
on  themes.  In  unpunctuated  exercises  the  most 
usual  sort  of  unwariness  is  with  participial  expres- 
sions like  the  stores  being  so  low  that  they  feared 
starvation. 

*See  the  sixth  paragraph  of  the  Introduction  for  a  striking  proof 
of  the  importance  that  attaches  to  this  notion  in  French  education. 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  175 

Make  these  t\\«»  nsei  of  tha  gemicnlon  pietuu'uqmr 

by  railing  tbem  tl„»  "^QnMp.PMnfflfl"  nru\  tlin  "hqlf. 

per^L"  The  most  useful  maxim  is  "A  semicolon 
never  introduces  anything."  Pupils  are  fond  of  put- 
ting it  after  J/  Kf  and  before  a  quotation. 

much  for  pe<  Only  a  few  comments  are 

Enquired  on  usage.  In  it  >  *  *  half  -period* '  function  a 
semicolon  always  signifies  that  what  follows  is  to  be 
understood  as  having  the  value  of  an  independent 
predication,  though  it  may  not  be  one  grammatically. 
H.  nee  authors  who  wish  to  be  impressive  sometimes 
separate  a  series  of  phrases,  or  even  single  words, 
by  this  heavy  stop. 

Especially  common  (and  often  effective  in  skilful 
hands)  is  the  use  before  coordinating  conjunctions, 
and  sometimes  before  subordinating  words.  Thi- 
says  to  a  reader,  "Regard  what  follows  as  equivalent 
to  an  independent  statement.' '  But  pupils  must  not 
be  allowed  to  put  a  semicolon  before  subordinate 
expressions.  Tell  them  that  they  may  exercise  their 
esthetic  judgment  after  they  have  graduated  from 
college.  The  word  following  is  never  capitalized. 
Yet  a  semicolon  is  regarded  as  so  much  like  a  period 
that  dashed-off  words  do  not  require  the  second 
<l.i-h.  He  had  been  defeated — as  was  expected;  he 
retrieved  himself — which  was  not  expected  Before 
a  conjunction  may  be  placed  a*  comma  or  semicolon 
or  period;  it  is  a  matter  of  the  degree  of  independ- 
ence that  is  to  be  indicated. 

THE  COLON 

The  colon  formally  introduces  a  list  of  particulars. 
The  following  translation  is  intended  primarily  for 
two  classes  of  readers:  first,  for  those  who  desire  to 


-*     L 


176  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

obtain  knowledge  of  its  contents;  second,  for  those 
who — etc.  For  the  pointing  of  an  introductory- 
word  before  it  see  the  discussion  under  The  Dash. 
It  is  also  used  in  a  very  significant  way  before  a 
sentence:  it  indicates  that  the  following  statement 
is  in  apposition  with  what  precedes,  is  explaining 
concretely  what  has  been  put  in  general  terms.  But 
the  curse  is  at  work:  the  severance  between  good 
and  evil  cannot  be  closed  again,  and  the  tragic  end 
comes  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  Arthur  and  Launcelot. 
This  use  contributes  to  precision  in  an  analytical 
style.  A  qapital  after  the  colon  signifies  that  what 
follows  is  quoted  or  is  of  independent  importance. 
Right  here  a  baffling  question  arises:  How  can  any 
inheritance-tax  prevent  a  man  from  giving  property 
to  his  children  before  he  dies?  The  colon  is  the  com- 
monest and  best  mark  after  the  salutation  of  a  letter. 
A  dash  after  it  is  unsightly  and  is  going  out  of  favor. 
It  is  useful  for  introducing  long  or  important  quota- 
tions. It  always  carries  the  connotation  "as  fol- 
lows." The  colon  is  omitted  if  it  would  have  to 
be  combined  with  a  question  mark.  What  did  the 
candidate  mean  by  beginning  his  composition  as 
follows?  * 'Caesar!  Julius  Caesar!  That  ironic, 
sartorial  virgin  of  history !" 

QUOTATION  MAEKS 

(a)  There  is  no  indication  that  single  marks  are 
coming  into  favor.  The  all  but  universal  practice  is 
to  use  single  marks  for  a  quotation  within  a  quota- 
tion. A  quotation  within  a  quoted  quotation  (if  one 
must  ever  write  such  a  thing)  has  double  marks.  No 
sensible  author  would  write  such  a  tangle  as  the 
following,  though  it  is  logically  possible:    "Well," 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  177 

d  he,  "  why  do  you  keep  r<  gating,  4We  heard  the 
old  man  cry,  "Make  way  for  liberty!"  'f "  A  typog- 
rapher would  balk  at  this  and  would  go  insane  if 
had  to  publish  that  row  of  terminations. 
Such  puzzles  originate  only  in  puzzled  brains,  (b) 
Ordinarily  quotation  mark>  are  wfaride  a  mark  of 
interrogation  or  exclamation,  but  are  inside  if  the 
mark  of  emotion  is  not  a  part  of  the  quotation.  If 
only  yon  had  not  said,  "lam  indifferent"!  John 
asked,  "Did  you  hear  me  say,  'Come  on'?"  (c)  If 
the  introducing  words  are  at  the  end  of  a  line,  the 
ma  must  be  after  them  on  that  line  and  the  quo- 
tation marks  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  lino,  (d) 
The  greatest  difficulty  in  themes  is  with  such  a  quo- 
tation  as  "Come  in  here,"  he  said.  M  [i*i  inner." 
A  comma  for  a  period  there  has  the  primal,  eldest 
curse  upon  it.  It  is  the  unforgivable  sin.  (e)  If  a 
speaker's  sentence  is  interrupted,  loft  unfinished,  use 
a  long  dash  and  put  the  quotation  marks  after  the 

dash.      "Look!"    he    gasped.      "Well,    did  " 

No  period  is  needed. 

PARENTHESES 

Parentheses  show  an  explanation  of  some  word 
or  statement.  Since  a  necessity  of  stopping  to 
explain  suggests  involved  thought,  our  quick-mov- 
ing, straightforward  generation  is  impatient  of 
parentheses.  They  are  at  present  being  supplanted 
lashes. 

Except  for  enumeration  in  scholarly  works  they 
always  appear  as  a  pair  of  marks  following  the  mat- 
that  is  being  commented  on.  Hence  thoir  func- 
tion is  peculiarly  plain,  and  there  is  almost  complete 


178  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

agreement  as  to  punctuation  connected  with  them. 
This  was  not  always  so.  As  late  as  1881  Bigelow's 
handbook  enjoined  the  following  pointing:  Fifteen 
pauls,  (a  scudo  and  a  half,)  buonomano  included. 
This  is  copied  from  the  Eiverside  edition  of  Lowell 
of  1892.  Nowadays  we  should  never  see  anything 
but  Fifteen  pauls  (a  scudo  and  a  half),  buonomano 
included.  Such  a  bit  of  ancient  history  would  de- 
serve no  mention  here  if  it  were  not  that  this  puzzling 
doubled  comma  still  persists  to  some  extent  in  con- 
nection with  a  pair  of  dashes.  The  curious  perver- 
sity with  parentheses  has  been  duly  buried;  the 
same  perversity  with  dashes  is  dead,  but  not  yet 
committed  to  the  grave. 

The  universal  present  ruling  for  parentheses  is  to 
use  exactly  the  same  points,  in  the  same  ways,  that 
would  appear  if  the  parenthesis  were  removed.  The 
matter  between  the  marks  is  punctuated  just  as  it 
would  be  if  it  were  not  parenthetical,  except  that  a 
sentence  is  not  capitalized  and  that  a  terminal 
comma  is  not  used :  (set  on  by  Wakem,  of  course) . 
Of  course  an  independent  sentence  made  parenthet- 
ical between  two  sentences  begins  with  a  capital 
and  has  its  terminal  point  inside  the  second  paren- 
thesis. "Come  here  at  once."  (You  can't  imagine 
my  speaking  so  firmly?)  "What  have  you  done?" 
Within  a  sentence  there  never  can  be  any  point  just 
lief  ore  the  parentheses,  except  in  some  extraordinary 
case,  like  If  he  comes,  (do  you)  let  me  know. 

Pupils  seldom  have  a  real  need  for  parentheses. 
Indeed  they  rather  need  to  be  discouraged  from  such 
asides,  because  they  easily  fall  into  the  way  of  using 
an  aimless  "as  I  said  before"  or  "I  forgot  to  say 
that."    They  will  most  awkwardly  prevent  ambig- 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  179 

uity  of  pronouns  by  repeating  in  parenthesis  the  v« 
noun  for  which  they  hive  used  a  pronoun.  And  they 
are  very  fearful  that  after  they  have  been  speak ing 
of  a  character  his  name  will  not  be  known  to  apply 
to  him:  hence  they  wearisomely  append  "that  was 
my  hero 's  name.  ■ ' 

THE  DASH 

Writers  whose  habits  were  fixed  more  than  thirty 
irs  ago  regard  the  dash  as  somewhat  sensational, 
i  will  employ  it  very  sparingly  or  not  at  all  in  for- 
mal composition.  It  has  an  emotional  function,  to 
indicate  abruptly -changed  constructions  or  unex- 
pected turns  of  thought.  "I  tell  thee  men  will  laugh 
—ah!"  She  ended  in  a  little  scream.  The — but, 
pooh! — it  is  not  for  an  old  man  like  me,  etc. 

But  in  the  last  quarter-century  dashes  have  been 
almost  universally  adopted  as  a  convenient  mark  of 
I m i vn thesis.  Unless  Carranza  should  do  what  he  has 
never  succeeded  yet  in  doing — establish  a  competent 
government  and  maintain  order — the  next  duty 
would  be  to  occupy  strategic  centers.  A  pair  of 
<l.i>hes  shows  matter  that  is  more  necessary  to  con- 
the  real  thought,  that  is  less  like  a  pure  explana- 
fciOD  or  an  aside.  Dashes  are  less  formal  than  paren- 
theses, do  not  show  such  aloofness.  They  have  grown 
in  favor  so  much  that  nowadays  almost  every  page 
taid  editorials  furnishes  examples.  The  common- 
est form  of  this  use  is  when  the  dashed-off  matter  is 
at  the  end  of  the  sentence.  Two  of  the  members  have 
opposed  the  action  of  the  majority — Governor  Mon- 
tague and  Representative  Shirley.  This  is  so  fre- 
quent in  all  editorials,  rhetorics,  and  literature  of 
lay  that  it  is  thought  of  by  many  as  a  distinctive 


180  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

form.     In  reality  it  is  only  a  species  of  the  paren- 
thetical. 

It  would  be  logical  to  use  a  comma  after  the  second 
dash  in  cases  where  the  comma  would  be  required  if 
the  dashed-off  matter  were  removed,  as  in  If  you  can 
— and  I  hope  you  can — ,  we  shall  be  much  pleased. 
This  would  be  exactly  like  the  use  with  parentheses. 
But  the  comma  looks  so  remote  and  dangling  that 
printers  were  never  willing  to  put  it  there;  instead 
they  evolved  a  practice  of  reduplicating,  placing  a 
comma  before  each  dash.  These  commas  were  com- 
pletely unreasonable  and  never  assisted  the  eye,  but 
previous  to  1880  few  American  publishers  dared  omit 
them,  and  to  this  day  there  are  unobservantly  con- 
servative people  to  whom  the  custom  is  very  dear. 
Yet  the  custom  is  thoroughly  dead,  though  the 
ghost  of  it  may  be  seen  lingering  in  the  Atlantic, 
the  Century,  the  North  American  Review,  and  a  few 
college  journals.  The  New  York  Evening  Post,  a 
most  conservative  journal,  abandoned  the  combina- 
tion so  many  years  ago  that  the  present  proofread- 
ers know  nothing  about  it.  Another  theory  expressed 
in  some  rhetorics  is  that  a  dash  "  strengthens ' * 
the  comma,  yet  even  the  Atlantic  and  the  Century  of- 
fices deny  all  knowledge  of  such  a  use.  In  the  spring 
of  1916  the  Atlantic  quit  the  use  of  "strengthened," 
and  the  Revieiv  of  Reviews  abandoned  the  "  comma- 
dash'  '  entirely.  The  combination  is  not  tolerated  by 
the  author  of  any  good  manual  published  since  1900 
except  Klein,  and  he  admits  a  "quite  general"  usage 
opposed  to  his  preference.  The  dash  should  never 
be  used  with  a  comma  or  semicolon. 

The  most  singular  way  in  which  rhetorics  have 
lagged  a  generation  behind  actual  practice  is  in  ad- 


USAGE  IX  POINTING  181 

vising  a  semicolon  before  such  introductory  words 
as  namely  and  < .//..  where  present  usage  puts  a  dfl 

tree  this  Wileoniaa  rule  ae  trustingly  as 

ugh  their  highest  duty  was  to  be  blind  to  facts. 
Ono  author  recited  this  credo  in  1D10,  but  omitP  d 
it  in  his  edition  of  191  \\  and  two  otlier  good  books 
have  rejected  it.  All  must  discard  it  soon,  for  it  is 
an  utter  untruth. 

It  originated  quite  naturally  from  such  a  form  as 
this:  He  is  not  popular;  that  is,  he  is  not  in  the  public 
eye.    Here  the  explanation  is  put  in  the  form  of  an 
independent,  coordinate  statement.    That  is  may  be 
employed  so,  frequently  to  the  extent  of  beginning 
a  new  sentence.     Similarly  it  may  be  argued  that 
<  ///and  words  of  that  kind  are  elliptical  for  these 
are  by  name  or  these  are  as  follows.  If  they  are  thus 
understood  and  if  they  are  always  employed  at  the 
end  of  a  sentence,  a  semicolon  is  a  reasonable  mark. 
It  is  utterly  unreasonable  under  any  other  condi- 
tions.   (1)  If  you  should  wish  to  put  the  apposit 
matter  within  the  sentence,  you  would  have  to  sur- 
round it  with  a  pair  of  semicolons,  as  is  actually 
dope  in  a  remarkable  quotation  in  Johnson's  Diction- 
under  )Hi»irlif.   But  no  rhetorician  has  the  hanli- 
l  to  do  this;  in  his  own  text  he  at  once  employs  a 
pair  of  dashes,  putting  a  comma  after  the  n<nn>hi. 
There  is  one  argument — namely,  the  increase  of  wages 
— which  is  peculiarly  appealing.   And  tide  is  the  fact 
modern  usage.    (2)  If  there  is  no  nam*  l>i  (or  any 
li  word  as  vie.,  f>>nif.  ae)f  the  semicolon  would 
become  monstrous,  for  it  would  then  appear  as  a 
mark  of  introduction,  as  a  colon.    Such  a  function  it 
has  never  had.    No  rhetorician  will  e  it  so  in 

hiswritinir.     (3)   To  ii  we  must)  that  a  >emi- 


182  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

colon  never  introduces,  and  then  to  teach  that  it 
introduces  a  list  of  particulars  with  namely,  is  peda- 
gogic crime.  It  is  curious  to  see  how  several  modern 
text-makers  forget  their  rule  and  exhibit  present 
usage  in  the  body  of  their  work  by  employing  the 
dash  constantly  before  appositive  constructions,  even 
before  the  very  words  that  they  have  listed  under 
their  semicolon  rule.  (4)  The  semicolon  rule  is  con- 
trary to  facts.  I  have  examined  two  yards  of  gram- 
mars and  dictionaries  without  finding  such  a  use  in 
any  book  less  than  fifty  years  old.  Of  course  it 
appears  not  infrequently  when  an  old-fashioned 
writer's  copy  is  being  followed;  even  in  Outlook  and 
Post  it  is  seen  occasionally  to  introduce  the  equiva- 
lent of  a  statement.  Otherwise  it  is  a  ghost  of  a 
former  reality. 

The  introductory  word  can  be  found  punctuated 
with  every  possible  permutation  of  comma,  dash, 
and  colon,  but  there  is  no  body  of  usage  to  support 
most  of  these  variations.  It  is  unusual  to  find  the 
colon  before  or  the~cT*tsh  after,  and  it  is  illogical.  If 
a  handbook  to  which  you  are  referring  advises  on 
page  10  that  a  colon  should  precede  viz.,  look  on 
pages  55  and  56,  where  you  will  see  the  colon  quite 
properly  after  viz.  and  thus,  and  always  after  as 
follows.  Namely  (which  I  use  to  represent  all  such 
words)  need  not  be  considered  parenthetical,  and 
ofteifis  not  in  scholarly  works  that  have  to  eliminate 
as  many  points  as  possible;  personally  I  wish  the 
world  had  taken  this  cue  from  the  scholars;  but  it 
has  not;  in  ordinary  composition  namely  is  paren- 
thetical. The  choice  between  comma  and  colon  to 
follow  namely  is  entirely  a  matter  of  how  formal  the 
introduction  is  to  be.    Hence  we  have  the  simple  and 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  183 

obvious  principle  that  there  is  a  big  disjunction 
fore  namely  (to  point  oil  all  that  follows),  an 
small  disjunction  after  namely  (to  set  off  that  mere 
word).  This  shows  how  ambiguous  is  the  very  com- 
mon practice  of  using  a  comma  both  before  and  after, 
which  ought  to  mean  that  namely  could  bo  taken 
out  without  destroying  the  continuity.  That  is  what 
the  commas  really  do  mean  in  the  following:  We 
have  one  great  fear — the  fear,  namely,  that  you  will 
desert  us.  That  is  precisely  what  they  do  not  mean 
in  the  following:  But  it  does  indicate  something  else, 
namely,  an  expectation  that  they  can  succeed.  Both 
the  logic  and  the  facts  of  present  usage  call  for  a 
dash  before  this  last  namely  and  a  comma  after  it. 
A  comma  before  and  a  colon  after  to  wit  and  viz.  are 
common  today,  especially  in  legal  phrasing;  but  the 
comma  is  a  weak  mark  for  such  a  position.  The 
dash  is  normal. 

Present  usage  reduces  to  one  simple  ruling:  Put 
a  dash  before  and  a  comma  after ;  use  the  colon  after 
to  show  importance  or  formality.  This  is  simple;  it 
is  consistent  with  the  facts  and  the  reasoning  of 
modern  usage ;  it  is  always  applicable,  whether  the 
appositive  matter  is  terminal  or  medial,  whether  or 
not  there  is  an  introductory  word. 

Perhaps  the  most  useful  function  of  dashes  and 
parentheses  is  to  prevent  a  confusing  array  of  com- 
mas that  are  performing  different  grades  of  duty, 
as  in  He  sometimes  served  a  plain  dinner,  a  veal  pie, 
or  a  leg  of  lamb,  and  a  rice  pudding.  A  dash  after 
dinner  would  show  that  that  word  is  not  the  first  of 
four  coordinate  items.  In  the  following  each  comma 
•roperly  employed,  but  the  whole  series  is  bewil- 
dering:  Only   four   Republicans,    Coates,    Grattan, 


184  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Holden,  and  Kissel,  upheld  him,  the  other  four  votes 
coming  from  Grady,  Frawley,  and  Sullivan,  Tam- 
many members,  and  Cullen  of  Queens. 

Dashes,  parentheses,  and  quotation  marks  are  the 
only  points  allowed  at  the  beginning  of  a  line. 

Only  occasionally  will  you  encounter  any  punctu- 
ation puzzle  that  is  not  definitely  provided  for  above. 
There  is  always  the  possibility  of  some  absurd  con- 
struction which  could  be  indicated  only  by  absurd 
pointing — e.g.,  Why  do  you  ask,  "May  I  come  in?"? 
In  the  first  place,  that  last  question  mark  is  patently 
nonsensical.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  the  construc- 
tion that  is  faulty;  no  one  ought  to  desire  to  show 
that  two  questions  end  simultaneously.    So  always. 

You  may  perchance  be  told  that  there  are  two 
schools  of  punctuation — "open"  and  "close";  that 
the  former  means  getting  rid  of  all  possible  points; 
that  its  vogue  is  chiefly  in  slap-dash  newspapers; 
that  the  latter  is  more  refined  and  is  cultivated  in 
the  college  world ;  that  the  author  of  What  Is  Eng- 
lish? is  a  devotee  of  the  open  system.  Very  little  is 
heard  of  those  terms  nowadays,  for  they  merely 
described  a  revolution  (begun  in  the  60's  and  con- 
cluded in  the  90's)  against  the  copious  Wilsonian 
commas.  I  am  a  devotee  of  nothing  but  the  safest 
and  soundest  present  usage.  No  jot  or  tittle  of  per- 
sonal preference  has  been  admitted  to  this  chapter. 
The  code  here  presented  is  conservative,  would  have 
to  be  called  close. 

Don't  lug  much  of  the  treatise  into  class.  It 
doesn't  belong  there.  It  is  only  to  furnish  you  com- 
plete knowledge  for  emergencies,  just  as  a  dictionary 
tells  you  thousands  of  things  that  never  come  up 
in  recitations — but  they  might.    You  need  to  know 


.   EN   POINTING  185 

orehand.  The  tern  big  matters  in  school  are  quo- 
tations l»«»th  sides  of  DOS  n -trictive  matter;  comma 
before  but,  so,  for,  as;  the  difference  between  a 
comma  ami  a  period  This  last  is  worth  much  more 
than  all  the  rest  together. 

00)  K>N    RULES 

[Except  for  period,  question   mark,  exclamation 
mark,  and  quotation  marks.     Numbers  of  subhead 
ings  do  not  correspond  to  the  numbering  in  the 
Chapter.] 

COMMA 

Never  osed  in  connection  with  another  mark  of 
punctuation. 

I.  Independent  Elements  Set  Off 

1.     Ah  and  nh  when  these  are  followed  by  ex- 
clamatory expressions. 
Ye$  and  no. 

3.     Xonns  of  address  (not  alter  0). 

II.  Items  of  a  Series  Separated 

1.  Unconnected,  coordinate  words,  phrases,  or 
clauses  (but  successive  adjectives  are  often 
not  coordinate  in  value). 

2.  Three  or  more  (rarely  two)  short  and  simi- 

lar independent  statement-. 

3.  With  and  or  or: 

a.     h< 'tween  last  two  items  if  there  is  no 
conjunction  between  previous  it«>ms. 


186  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

b.  Between  clauses  if  it  is  needful  to  warn 
a  reader  that  the  conjunction  is  not  con- 
necting merely  two  words. 

c.  Between  clauses  to  show  that  they  are 

dissimilar  in  subject,  mood,  time,  etc. 

4.     Before  the  adversatives  but,  while,  though, 
yet,  not,  nor  when  they  introduce  clauses. 

III.     Parenthetical  Uses 

1.  Appositives,  unless   they  form   customary 
phrases. 

2.  Appositive  adjective  expressions,  especially 

participial  phrases. 

3.  Successive  terms   in  dates   and  addresses 

(these  not  being  "coordinate  items/ '  but 
successive  explanations  —  parenthetical) ; 
not  to  be  used  at  the  end  of  a  line  in  a  letter- 
head or  on  an  envelope. 

4.  Any  word,  phrase,  or  very  brief  clause  that 

is  to  be  shown  as  merely  interjected :  always 
etc. ;  nearly  always  however  and  such  intro- 
ducing words  as  namely,  e.g. ;  usually  con- 
versational why,  well,  and  now. 

5.  Modifying  prepositional  phrases   that  are 
not  restrictive  in  meaning  (these  are  rare). 

6.  Modifying  clauses  which  are  not  restrictive 

in  meaning — i.e.,  which  are  equivalent  to  a 
statement  added  with  and :  always  with  as, 
since,  and  for  showing  a  reason;  with  so 
and  so  that  showing  result. 


USAGE  IN  POINTING  187 

7.  After  introductory  adverb  clause:  always 
with  as,  since,  though,  and  although ;  usually 
with  if;  otherwise  not  necessary  if  the 
clause  is  to  be  shown  as  restrictive  in  mean- 
ing. 

8.  The  main  clause  that  introduces  a  quotation, 
but  not  in  combination  with  a  question  mark 
or  exclamation  mark. 

SEMICOLON 

1.  Separates  coordinate  expressions  if  one  of  these 
contains  a  comma — the  " double  comma"  use. 

2.  Separates  sentences  that  are  closely  connected  in 
thought — the  *  *  half  period '  '  use. 

3.  Shows  that  words,  phrases,  or  dependent  clauses 
are  to  be  regarded  as  having  the  importance 
of  independent  statements. 

COLON 

Always  equivalent  to  "as  follows."  Introduces  a 
list  of  particulars,  or  a  sentence  that  explains 
particularly  a  general  statement.  May  be  used 
before  a  quotation  or  after  such  words  as  namely 
to  show  that  what  follows  is  formally  introduced, 
as  being  long  or  important. 

A  semicolon  between  two  statements  means  that  they 
;iiv  coordinate  in  value;  a  colon  means  that  the 
following  statement  explains  or  gives  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  preceding  statement. 


188  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

PARENTHESES 

Indicate  added  information,  not  strictly  essential  to 
the  meaning. 

DASH 

1.  Shows  an  abruptly  changed  construction  or  an 
uncompleted  statement. 

2.  Shows  an  appositive  expression  more  abrupt  or 
interjected  than  would  be  indicated  by  a  comma. 

3.  Useful  for  an  appositive  expression  that  contains 

a  comma. 

4.  A  pair  of  dashes  shows  a  modifying  side-remark. 

5.  A  pair  of  dashes  is  specially  common  for  apposi- 

tive matter  introduced  by  such  words  as  namely, 
e.g.  Such  matter  is  commonly  at  the  end  of  a 
sentence,  and  hence  only  one  dash  appears. 

Only  dashes,  parentheses,  and  quotation  marks  may 
stand  at  the  beginning  of  a  line. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THEMES 

One  of  the  best  high  schools  in  the  country  used 
to  have  an  arrangement  by  which  English  teachers 
were  given  a  mathematics  class  in  order  that  this 
easier  work  might  relieve  the  tedium  of  theme-read- 
ing. It  is  a  labor  from  which  many  teachers  shrink. 
If  this  chapter  can  show  two  ways  of  making  it 
lighter  and  more  effective,  your  peace  of  mind  will 
be  conserved  and  your  energy  better  applied. 

1  hiring  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  a  great 
deal  of  discussion  about  how  to  grade  themes.  Every 
rimenter  has  produced  an  astounding  result  like 
this:  twenty  themes  were  submitted  to  ten  teachers 
for  grading;  the  marks  on  one  theme  varied  between 
25  and  90;  two  given  themes  were  marked  60  and  90 
by  A,  80  and  50  respectively  by  B;  discrepancies  in 
the  same  teaching  force,  among  instructors  supposed 
to  be  familiar  with  a  common  system,  showed  bewil- 
ingly  variant  estimates.    The  English  world  has 
n  puzzling  about  uniformity;  about  a  criterion; 
about  some  way  of  getting  a  body  of  intelligent  teach- 
ers to  agree  that  a  given  theme  is  very  poor,  just 
passing,  Of  very  good.    In  universities  where  twenty 
or  thirty  freshman  instructors  are  reading  one  huge 
of  themes  from  one  class  for  one  kind  of  credit 
it  lias  hem  absolutely  essential  t  particular^ 

instructions,  which  readers  have  had  to  follow  pre- 

189 


190  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

cisely;  any  other  procedure,  any  trusting  to  indi- 
vidual taste,  would  be  criminally  unfair. 

Yet  the  universal  assumption  until  very  recently 
has  been  that  a  theme,  like  a  story  in  a  magazine,  is 
in  the  last  analysis  ungradable ;  that  it  is  an  expres- 
sion of  a  personality,  making  one  appeal  to  A  and  a 
very  different  appeal  to  B;  that  there  is  no  possi- 
bility of  a  uniform  rating  of  its  merits.  Most  editors 
and  superintendents  and  business  men  and  clergy- 
men still  take  it  for  granted  that  the  mark  on  a  theme 
is  a  literary  evaluation.  Perhaps  you  have  taken 
that  for  granted.  The  first  half  dozen  rhetorics  you 
examine  will  convey  the  same  impression  by  speak- 
ing of  "self-expression"  and  "polishing  our  work." 
The  most  ambitious  effort  to  get  some  uniformity- 
criterion,  a  scale  devised  by  Professor  Hillegas  of 
Columbia,  is  based  on  the  same  assumption.  It  is  in 
effect  a  set  of  selections  graduated  in  literary  merit 
from  the  zero  of  a  thoughtless  child  to  the  100%  of 
a  Hawthorne;  with  this  set  of  selections  the  theme- 
reader  is  to  familiarize  himself;  then  after  a  quick 
perusal  of  any  composition  he  can  estimate  that  its 
merit  is  nearer  that  of  no.  7  than  of  no.  6,  and  hence 
marks  it  70.  This  is  delightfully  easy,  is  alluring, 
and  has  received  a  great  deal  of  attention  from  re- 
viewers and  conventions ;  but  I  do  not  hear  that  it  is 
actually  being  used  much.  If  it  were  a  practical 
device,  it  would  be  as  handy  as  a  gravity-bulb  for 
quick  and  precise  measure  of  literary  value. 

That  is  just  the  point:  it  is  largely  an  esthetic 
measure.  Is  that  what  needs  measuring  in  school 
themes?  Are  we  in  the  position  of  an  editor  decid- 
ing whether  an  article  is  worth  purchasing?  He 
thinks  of  four  counts:  strength  of  subject,  charm  of 


THEMES  191 

style,  coherence  and  emphasis  of  structure,  accuracy 
in  rod)  petty  mechanics  as  idiom  and  sentence-struc- 
ture Spoiling  and  punctuation  are  less  than  noth- 
ing in  his  consideration,  for  a  twenty-dollar-a-week 
proofreader  can  attend  to  such  minutiae.  An  editor 
can  easily  revise  poor  syntax  and  diction  if  there  is 
not  too  much  of  it.  As  to  orderly  structure  of  the 
whole,  it  is  likely  that  any  contributor  who  has  a 
message  and  some  stylistic  ability  will  have  com- 
posed his  matter  effectively,  or  that  he  could,  at  the 
editor's  suggestion,  alter  any  carelessness  of  ar- 
rangement. The  editor  is  simply  judging  whether  the 
MS.  offers  an  interesting  expression  of  personality. 
But  every  conscientious  band  of  freshman  instruct- 
ors finds  that  it  has  to  pass  the  opposite  kind  of 
opinion.  We  have  heard  the  explicit  announcement 
from  Wisconsin  and  Illinois ;  the  facts  are  undoubt- 
edly the  same  at  any  college  where  honest  effort  is 
guided  by  clear  apprehension  of  facts.  We  are  not 
concerned  with  elective  courses  whose  objective  is 
literary  knack;  Ave  speak  of  work  required  of  all 
freshmen.  What  is  true  for  them  must  be  more  true 
of  the  first  years  of  high  school.  All  pupils  do  not 
have  literary  skill.  Only  a  small  percentage  of  them 
have.  Quite  a  proportion  of  teachers  have  only  a 
tincture  of  such  talent.  You  very  likely  were  on  the 
board  of  the  Ulula  and  you  have  sent  a  story  to 
ibner's  and  an  essay  to  the  Atlantic.  But  you  are 
unusual.  We  average  teachers  have  small  hopes  of 
literary  tame.  If  we  strive  to  write  gracefully,  we 
are  apt  to  appear  affected.  If  we  suppose  that  we 
must  teach  pupils  to  write  gracefully,  we  shall  teach 
than  atl.  ( tation.  We  shall  probably  do  a  much 
worse  thing — convince  them  that  we  are  insincere 


192  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

and  that  all  our  talk  about  Addisonian  charm  is  pre- 
tense.   Our  first  business  is  care  and  accuracy. 

It  is  well  to  say  frequently  to  yourself  and  occa- 
sionally to  the  class  that  you  cannot  require  a  pleas- 
ing style,  for  that  is  an  innate  quality ;  that  you  can- 
not teach  more  than  some  faintest  hints  of  what 
constitutes  a  pleasing  style,  for  that  is  unteachable ; 
that  perhaps  a  few  in  the  class  were  born  with  a 
degree  of  power  that  is  greater  than  the  teacher's, 
just  as  every  now  and  then  some  school  football- 
player  is  born  to  be  a  college  player  of  more  strength 
than  his  present  coach.  What  most  do  not  possess, 
what  cannot  be  taught,  you  have  no  right  to  require ; 
it  is  folly  to  require  it.  But  what  every  ordinary 
child  can  do,  what  his  parents  and  employer  insist 
upon,  what  he  must  learn  if  he  is  to  graduate,  is  to 
avoid  hideous  errors  of  spelling  and  sentence-struc- 
ture, and  to  acquire  some  ability  to  divide  into  para- 
graphs and  to  proceed  in  a  somewhat  orderly  fashion 
to  a  conclusion. 

One  man's  private  judgment  about  this  is  worth 
almost  nothing.  Don't  take  stock  in  the  previous 
paragraphs  just  because  they  are  in  a  printed  book. 
There  is  some  contrary  evidence — for  example,  one 
teacher  of  girls  testifies  that  she  divides  the  school 
for  English  work,  not  by  regular  classification,  but 
by  literary  ability.  I  should  guess  that  a  majority 
of  principals  and  parents  still  think  that  themes 
ought  to  be  graded  for  style.  Don't  oppose  the  opin- 
ion of  those  in  authority  at  Smithboro.  Find  out 
what  is  wanted  and  follow  orders.  Find  out  defi- 
nitely, or  definitely  interpret  for  yourself,  what  is 
the  limit  of  deduction  from  an  orderly  and  pleasing 
theme  for  mere  mechanical  errors.    Inquire  for  that 


THEMES  193 

form  of  directions;  decide  clearly  in  your  own  mind 
according  to  that  form.  If  a  theme  is  reasonably 
well  arranged  and  is  not  dull,  it  deserves  100  as  a 
piece  of  school  literature;  how  much  may  be  taken 
off  for  mechanical  errors  if  the  passing  mark  is  70  T 
The  answer  from  the  universities,  from  the  college 
board,  from  the  careful  preparatory  schools,  is 
11 enough  to  make  the  mark  zero."  But  the  Smith- 
bo  ro  school  may  be  crowded,  so  that  most  students 
must  be  promoted,  and  hence  marking  must  be  leni- 
ent ;  or,  again,  Smithboro  may  have  an  old-fashioned 
horror  of  mechanics,  so  that  the  instructions  may  be 
"never  more  than  30.' '  Then  you  are  to  resolve  pri- 
vately that  you  will  never  deduct  for  mere  prosiness 
and  will  seldom  deduct  more  than  20  for  ordinary 
incoherence  or  lack  of  emphasis.  One  other  prelimi- 
nary question  you  are  to  get  answered :  How  strict 
is  the  grading  in  this  school?  Compare  notes  with 
colleagues  during  tha  npepfnff  wppIts,  so  as  to  make 
sure  that  your  marks  arc  not  noticeably  high  or  low. 
You  have  now  assured  yourself  peace  of  mind  by 
taking  theme-grading  out  of  the  region  of  guess  and 
mystery  and  worriment  and  setting  up  an  arithmet- 
ical standard.  In  so  doing  you  are  not  professing 
that  you  have  equated  charms  and  commas  or  estab- 
lished a  percentage  basis  for  personality.  You  have 
declined  that  impossible  task.  You  have  simply  re- 
fused to  put  English  on  grounds  that  no  other  sub- 
ject stands  on.  You  have  safeguarded  your  own 
f airness ;  you  will  be  able  to  tell  both  Willie  and  his 
plexed  mother  just  why  the  mark  was  E.  If  any 
doubt  of  the  justice  of  this  arithmetic  haunts  you, 
reflect  that  our  whole  system  of  rating  intellectual 
achievement  is  utterly  inadequate;  every  year  we 


194  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

refuse  to  graduate  able  citizens  and  give  valedictory 
honors  to  those  who  can  contribute  little  to  civili- 
zation. But  this  is  the  best  adjustment  we  can  make 
at  present.  We  cannot  hope  to  set  up  separate  stand- 
ards for  English.  Furthermore,  you  will  be  more 
useful  if  you  preserve  your  peace  of  mind,  and  only 
by  adopting  one  consistent,  easy,  invariable  plan 
can  you  feel  sure — and  make  pupils  feel  sure — that 
your  grades  mean  anything  or  that  there  is  any  pos- 
sibility of  their  improving. 

In  another  closely  related  way  you  can  conserve 
your  nerve-power:  by  not  taking  to  heart  all  the 
exhortation  to  * '  stimulate  orderly  thinking.  ■ '  Every 
English  teacher  does  what  he  can  in  that  way,  ought 
to  accomplish  something;  but  the  total  must  always 
be  slight.  Orderly  thinking,  like  popularity  and 
good  nature  and  charitableness,  is  not  in  the  cur- 
riculum. It  is  a  rare  gift.  A  congressman  who 
can  think  perfectly  straight  is  everywhere  looked 
for  and  nowhere  found.  If  most  philosophers  and 
economists  can  really  think  straight,  whence  came 
all  the  opportunities  for  reviewers  to  point  out 
how  crookedly  they  think?  No,  the  power  to  think 
straight  is  not  granted  to  most  of  us — much  less  can 
we  instil  it.  Except  in  one  sense :  we  can  impart  a 
good  deal  of  useful  instruction  in  setting  down 
straight  the  thoughts  that  are  committed  to  paper. 
We  can,  by  reading  good  themes  and  orderly  pas- 
sages from  literature  or  magazines,  give  common- 
place minds  some  ability  to  substitute  for  a  3-1-2  or- 
der the  1-2-3  order.  And  constant  reference  to  good 
examples  will  enable  many  pupils  to  show  the  reader 
by  connectives  that  the  thoughts  are  coherently  ar- 
ranged.   Education  is  at  bottom  a  matter  of  drill  in 


THEMES  195 

imitating  processes,  and  English  can  do  no  more 
than  to  train  young  minds  in  following  a  few  simple 
models  of  orderly  structure.  It  cannot  confer  any 
power.  We  are  not  supermen  to  be  charged  with  a 
task  so  ineffably  hard. 

That  idea  of  "following  simple  models  of  orderly 
structure"  has  never  been  grasped  in  America,  but 
we  are  beginning  to  get  hold  of  it.  Most  of  us  have 
allowed  pupils  to  write  unoutlined,  unprepared-for 
themes,  thus  training  them  in  disorder.  Or  we  have 
gone  to  the  other  extreme  with  elaborate  subheaded 
outlines  that  do  not  correspond  to  any  normal  frame- 
work of  a  brief  composition.  Prevision  is  what  we 
must  learn — setting  before  children  a  scheme  by  X 
which  they  may  see  in  advance  the  progress  through 
the  few  main  divisions.  Simplicity  is  the  need  that 
we  must  recognize — not  sentences,  not  a  dozen  head- 
ings, not  elaboration  of  major  and  minor,  but  just 
three  or  four  or  five  titles  of  the  natural  groups  of 
thought.  Of  course  the  active  minds  should  be 
encouraged  to  vary  this,  to  change  it  completely  if 
they  wish ;  and  it  should  be  understood  that  no  one 
is  obliged  to  write  out  an  outline  in  advance,  for  some 
original  brains  will  not  be  helped  by  that  process. 
But  minds  that  get  good  results  without  a  formal  v 
plan  are  planning  informally.  Whether  the  scheme 
is  written,  is  unwritten,  or  is  formed  unconsciously,  y^^- 
it  exists ;  a  good  theme  always  shows  a  design.  The  V" 
ordinary  high-school  writer  will  learn  more  about 
structure  if  an  outline  is  suggested  in  advance.  The 
slow  and  the  uninventive  must  be  provided  with  the 
simple  plan  which  they  will  not  originate  for  them- 
selves. The  best  training  for  getting  up  an  outline 
is  to  read  a  good  first  paragraph  of  a  theme  and 


^ 


196  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

inquire  what  its  title  might  be — what  one  thing  it  is 
all  about ;  what  one  thing  the  second  paragraph  is  all 
about ;  and  so  on  until  four  or  five  titles  are  displayed 
in  sequence  on  the  board.  What  always  needs  em- 
phasis, what  will  .produce  conviction  and  cause  im- 
provement, is  simplicity.  A  series  of  four  brief  titles 
is  proof  that  order  is  not  merely  heaven's  first  law, 
but  a  mundane  possibility.  Providing  an  outline  is 
the  surest  device  for  securing  at  least  the  appearance 
of  "orderly  thinking." 

So  much  for  the  general  theory.  Later  in  the 
chapter  are  some  practical  hints  for  outlining  and 
paragraphing. 

Be  skeptical  about  "placing  before  our  classes 
examples  of  literary  skill  which  shall  be  at  once 
models  after  which  to  fashion  their  own  work,  and 
an  inspiration  to  ambitious  effort."  It  would  be 
idyllic  to  follow  that  program  if  our  classes  were 
composed  of  a  few  chosen  girls  who  would  make  the 
effort.  But  most  of  the  boys  will  not  feel  the  least 
inspiration,  will  think  you  are  unfair,  and  will  sup- 
pose that  you  are  urging  them  to  be  insincere.  If 
you  persist  against  those  literal  minds,  you  will  wear 
your  heart  out ;  you  will  not  get  the  esthetic  result ; 
you  will  perceive  that  you  are  encouraging  outra- 
geous carelessness,  accomplishing  neither  the  lofty 
nor  the  lowly  result;  and  then  you  will  reproach 
yourself  and  distrust  yourself  and  waste  energy. 
Unless  you  can  live  on  illusions,  be  blind  to  hideous 
facts,  and  remain  indifferent  to  the  plainest  duty, 
the  "literary  model"  plan  will  destroy  equanimity. 
If  you  have  one  clear,  simple  objective— decent  Eng- 
lish— your  own  mind  will  not  be  tortured  about  a 
criterion.    You  will  have  the  same  kind  of  business 


THEMES  197 

that  a  teacher  has  in  any  other  subject,  to  require 
care  and  precision  in  simple  intellectual  tasks.  You 
will  not  be  striding  the  blasts  or  summoning  spirits 
into  a  circle,  but  will  be  engaged  in  a  normal  peda- 
gogic employment. 

Yet  beyond  and  above  this  you  have  a  chance  that 
does  not  exist  in  other  subjects.  You  can  encourage 
interesting  writing.  You  may — you  should — have  it 
understood  that  a  lively  and  entertaining  compo 
tion  is  worth  more  than  a  dull  one.  "Here  is  a 
theme  that  is  careless  in  spots,  so  that  by  regular 
arithmetic  it  would  be  marked  50;  but  because  it  was 
really  amusing  it  was  marked  70. ' '  You  never  know  ^ 
what  spark  you  may  kindle  by  remarking,  "This 
theme  is  so  good  that  it  ought  to  be  handed  in  to  the 
Literaria  board.' '  When  you  read  a  brisk  begin- 
ning or  a  surprising  close,  quote  a  happy  bit  of 
invention  or  a  neat  turn  or  a  clever  bit  of  character- 
izing, you  are  reminding  the  class  that  you  are  not  a 
comma-fiend.  K<  a<l  as  many  good  themes  as_jypu 
can  find  time  for,  commenting  on  your  reasons  for 
approval.  It  is  generally  good  policy  not  to  name 
the  writer,  for  that  distracts  attention  from  merito- 
rious work  to  a  complimented  person — from  the  use- 
ful to  theTuTrmful.  Ask  the  class  to  give  reasons  f<  i  r 
praising~of  Mftjffing.  Exhibit  faults  fully,  but  beware 
of  ridiculing.  This  kind  of  criticism,  if  tactfully 
managed,  is  the  greatest  possible  incentive  to  write 
interestingly;  it  introduces  that  vitally  necessary 
element  of  social  approval.  c 

"Social  approval0  is  a  large  and  valuable  id. A, 
worthy  of  a  chapter  by  itself.    A  teach*  r  is  si 
ful   in   proportion  as  he   secures   the   i  rating — 

pa  thy  of  the  class ;  not  striving  to  imp<>-.>  eiti 


198  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Ms  own  judgment  or  a  literary  standard  that  is  un- 
known to  the  class;  but  bringing  to  bear  the  social 
pressure,  convincing  pupils  that  they  are  required 
to  do  only  what  their  social  group  approves.  This 
thesis  is  soundly  and  convincingly  presented  in  S.  A. 
Leonard's  Eiverside  Monograph,  English  Composi- 
tion as  a  Social  Problem.  The  idea  is  not  to  be 
grasped  in  a  minute — nor  in  a  month.  Have  it 
always  in  mind.* 

Sometimes,  especially  early  in  the  year,  there  will 
be  such  epidemics  of  heedlessness  that  you  may  do 
well  to  announce  that  there  is  no  opportunity  for 
reading  whole  themes.  Hold  up  the  bunch  and  say 
that  half  of  them  would  keep  the  attention  of  the 
class,  that  one  of  them  is  as  good  as  some  sketches 
that  have  been  sold  for  money,  that  three  are  better 
than  many  college  students  can  write,  that  you  wish 
you  might  read  some  of  them — but  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  squander  time  for  pleasure  as  long  as  there 
is  so  much  wild  carelessness  to  deal  with.  Then  sail 
into  them  for  the  rattle-headed  spelling  and  the  coun- 
terfeit sentences.  Keep  them  informed  that  commas 
do  not  make  a  theme,  that  often  a  theme  which  you 
mark  0  is  a  much  finer  thing  than  one  marked  90; 
but  that  if  you  don't  count  off  strictly  for  errors  you 
will  leave  them  uneducated.  "You  have  a  gift  for 
saying  things  with  snap;  it's  a  talent  that  many 
firms  are  paying  good  money  for  today ;  cultivate  it ; 
I  will  help  you  to  make  it  useful  by  marking  every 
careless  theme  zero."  In  any  and  every  way  that 
your  tact  can  devise  show  them  that  the  strictness 
with  mechanics  is  only  to  keep  them  from  being  a 

'Compare  the  very  interesting  experiment  with  social  approval  in 
literature,  the  third  extract  in  Chapter  X,  pages  232-238. 


THEMES  199 

laughing-stock  to  a  critical  world.  Ask  them  what 
impression  they  would  get  of  a  stranger  who  began 
a  letter  i  "Dear  sir  youde  ought  to  of  let  me  sel  you 
them  goods/ '  Insist  that  some  of  them  would  im- 
press an  employer  almost  as  unfavorably.  Try_Jo  I 
show  them  that  a  splotch  of  ignorance  on_a_pag&  is 
as  injurious  as  a  stain  on  a  white  tie— no  one  can  see 
anything  but  the  stain,.  Bead  them  what  an  Ameri- 
can poet,  \l.  II.  Stoddard,  said  of  Poe's  original 
handwritten  copy  of  A  MS.  Found  in  a  Bottle: 
11 There  was  genius  in  everything  they  listened  to; 
there  was  no  uncertain  grammar,  no  feeble  phrase- 
ology, no  ill-placed  punctuation. ' 9 

The  mark  after  genius  is  not  a  colon.  Stoddard 
was  not  indicating  that  the  genius  was  constituted  as 
follows,  but  that  Poe  had  certain  commonplace  abili- 
ties in  addition  to  the  great  one.  Keep  the  semi- 
colon in  mind  when  you  decide  just  what  theme- 
reading  is,  and  for  school  purposes  regard  what  fol- 
lows as  the  climax.  If  you  know  what  you  are 
aiming  at,  if  you  have  a  single  purpose,  you  will 
remove  the  burdensome  fear  of  "Oughtn't  I  to  be 
doing  something  else  ? ' ' 

The  other  way  of  lightening  labor  is  similar :  Re- 
duce all  correcting  to  the  simplest  arithmetical  basis, 
read  once  rapidly,  deduct  mechanically;  don't  fraz- 
zle your  nerves  by  trying  to  weigh  what  cannot  be 
ireigliedj  nor  tolerate  any  qualms  about  the  queer 
result  of  a  low  mark  for  lively  writing  and  a  high 
mark  for  prosy  work.  The  secret  of  fair  and  rapid 
grading  is  to  establish  your  "unit  error,"  to  indicate 
the  number  of  these  in  the  simplest  manner,  to  com- 
pute in  a  few  seconds  what  the  grade  is.  Here  are 
the  details  of  marking  one  freshman  theme  in  the 


200  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

fourth  month  of  the  year.  The  unit  for  one  class 
may  be  changed  several  times  a  year,  is  different  for 
different  classes  and  different  schools ;  but  once  you 
understand  the  scheme  you  can  see  what  value  is 
needed  for  the  unit  in  your  class.  In  the  case  of  this 
particular  theme  the  class  has  been  many  times 
warned  about  too  and  their,  etc.,  has  been  drilled  in 
simple  punctuation,  and  has  learned  again  and  again 
of  the  atrocity  of  a  sentence-error.  Such  errors 
as  omitting  a  comma  before  so  and  but,  mis- 
spelling its,  omitting  an  apostrophe  from  a  posses- 
sive count  five  each.  Such  forms  as  ladys,  J  one's 
now  count  two  errors.  Because  to  for  too  has  been 
unusually  stressed  and  everyone  knows  what  is 
wrong  the  instant  he  sees  it,  it  counts  three  errors. 
You  open  the  theme  and  begin  reading,  not  expect- 
ing to  see  everything  that  is  wrong,  not  losing  the 
run  of  the  little  narrative,  but  marking  whatever 
you  do  see — that  will  be  quite  enough.  The  open- 
ing paragraph  is  not  indented ;  the  red  pencil  dashes 
down  a  I  about  where  the  indention  ought  to  be. 
That  first  paragraph,  only  two  lines  long,  is  clearly 
a  mere  introductory  sentence ;  down  goes  ' l  No  Par. ' ' 
Then  there  is  no  trouble  till  the  seventh  line,  where 
you  find  orrange ;  you  dash  a  ring  around  it  to  show 
that  it  must  be  corrected,  but  is  not  counted  as  an 
error.  Next  you  find  "He  said  for  me  to  come 
right  in  and  that  he  would  cook  us  a  supper  for  us." 
That  is  a  clumsy  change  of  construction,  very  dis- 
agreeable to  you;  you  would  like  to  write  a  note  in 
the  margin  dilating  upon  the  awkwardness ;  but  you 
do  nothing  of  the  kind,  for  the  matter  has  not  yet 
been  spoken  of  in  class.  You  simply  put  a  ring 
around  for  us  and  speed  ahead.    On  the  second  page 


Til  K. Mi 

is  v  W<  11,  it  happens  that  you  have  mentioned 

this  only  twice,  that  you  are  not  positive  it  ought  to 
count  double ;  one  line  goes  under  it.  Near  the  end  is 
comming,  and  while  it  may  deserve  a  treble  line,  you 
Leniently  underscore  it  only  twice.  The  whole  story 
la  decently  arranged,  reasonably  well  told;  count  up. 
Two  for  the  paragraphing,  one  for  whd's,  two  for 
I  ming  =  25 ;  100 — 25  =  75.  Time  of  reading  275 
words  not  over  three  minutes;  after  a  year's  experi- 
ence, when  you  are  used  to  the  system  and  have 
grown  acquainted  with  the  peculiarities  of  pupils 
and  have  removed  a  large  proportion  of  the  first-of- 
the-year  carelessness,  you  can  finish  in  two  minutes. 

It  is  more  than  likely  that  this  strikes  you  as  not 
theme- reading  at  all  but  as  mere  addition  of  bits  of 
scum  that  fleck  the  deep  waters  as  well  as  the  roily 
1  diddle.  Part  of  your  astonishment  is  due  to  not 
dwelling  enough  on  "the  whole  is  decently  arranged, 
reasonably  well  told."  That  is  a  big  assumption. 
On  many  themes  there  will  have  to  be  structural  cor- 
rections: of  general  incoherence,  or  of  monotonous 
sentences,  or  of  faulty  time-order,  or  of  mispropor- 
tion,  or  of  dwindling  interest,  or  the  like.  But  in  first- 

i  r  work  such  correction  should  be  of  the  simplest 
kind  and  only  in  palpable  cases.  You  will  be  estab- 
lishing habits  of  irood  tin-in.'  planning,  will  have  or- 
derly arrangement  much  in  mind;  but  these  larger 
matters  require  less  attention  than  you  think:  the 
small  details  are  very  much  more  difficult  and  im- 
portant than  might  be  supposed,  even  in  the  upper 
classes.  You  are  not  doing  college  work,  but  are 
four  years  below  that.  Memories  of  theme-criticism 
in  college  may  vitiate  your  labor. 

You  may  marvel  at  the  proposal  to  measure  health 


202  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

and  depth  by  counting  misspellings.  If  so,  don't  on 
any  account  accept  this  method.  Don't  workLaecord- 
ing  to  any  plan  that  violates  your  feelings.  I  know 
very  well  that  in  the  whole  opinionated  range  of  this 
most  opinionated  of  subjects  there- is  no  place  where 
a  man  so  insensibly  slips  into  a  habit  (directed  at 
first  by  chance,  confirmed  without  analysis)  and 
grows  so  accustomed  to  his  opinions  that  he  cannot 
entertain  any  objection  to  them.  You  are  urged  not 
to  adopt  anything  that  does  not  appeal  to  you.  Be 
wary — I  will  go  so  far  as  to  say — about  adopting  it 
if  it  does  appeal  to  you.  Think  it  over ;  make  experi- 
ments. "But  on  no  account  theorize.  A  physician 
smiles  wearily  when  people  theorize  about  ailments 
and  remedies,  for  he  is  so  familiar  with  a  thousand 
forms  of  illness  which  reduce  to  a  few  of  the  simplest 
causes  of  ill  health.  A  patient  's  most  violent  tooth- 
ache is  nothing  in  his  estimation,  but  he  is  most 
solicitous  about  that  pin-scratch.  This  may  be  more 
than  an  analogy  when  applied  to  the  author,  who 
sees  every  month  a  thousand  composition  defects, 
who  has  taught  his  thousand  boys  of  all  sorts  under 
conditions  that  oblige  him  to  rate  them  according  to 
college-entrance  ability,  in  conformity  with  the  same 
sort  of  rating  for  other  subjects.  He  finds  that  all 
the  weaknesses  can  be  reduced  to  a  few  simple  kinds. 
Fewness  and  simplicity  are  as  much  a  mystery  to 
him  as  tetanus  is  to  a  doctor,  but  he  has  learned  the 
fact.  A  physician  knows  that  the  yellow  on  a  tongue 
amounts  to  nothing  in  itself,  that  scraping  it  off  will 
produce  no  health ;  yet  he  sets  about  eradicating  it. 
He  wants  to  produce  such  a  change  in  the  system 
that  the  tongue  will  grow  red.  So  a  teacher  is  not 
merely  scraping  off  a  symptom  when  he  grades  for 


THEMES  203 

mechanical  errors;  he  is  correcting  and  vitalizing 
a  mind,  setting  up  that  carefulness  which  is  mental 
healt  h.  When  you  regard  the  little  errors  as  an  out- 
ward  certificate  of  an  inward  weakness,  when  you 
have  learned  that  they  can  be  removed  only  by 
severe  and  protracted  regimen,  when  you  have  for 
a  long  term  of  years  observed  how  mental  vigor  is 
increased  after  the  evil  symptoms  have  been  got  rid 
of,  then  you  may  marvel  at  your  present  skepticism. 
We  need  not  depend  upon  a  medical  parallel. 
From  three  quite  different  sources  I  learn  that 
mediocre  dramatic  talent  is  most  assisted  by  train- 
ing in  clearness  of  enunciation.  I  cannot  vouch  for 
this  because  I  never  tried  it.  But  I  do  know  by 
experience  with  declamations  that  for  several  years 
I  failed  to  get  best  results  because  I  went  in  for  tone- 
v. i  nation  and  pauses  and  dramatic  changes.  Boys 
of  small  ability — the  great  majority — were  per- 
plexed by  my  efforts.  I  gradually  learned  to  say, 
4  '  Make  it  clear.  Take  time  to  make  every  word 
distinct"  With  mere  articulation  as  my  first  pur- 
pose I  had  a  higher  average  of  success.  The  same 
sort  of  thing  is  true  of  all  arts.  Are  young  musi- 
cians— even  those  of  marked  ability — taught  to  "  ex- 
press personality"!  They  are  drilled  and  drilled 
and  drilled  in  finger-exercises  and  positions.  Are 
novitiates  in  painting  and  sculpture — even  those  of 
special  promise — exhorted  to  create  with  vivacity 
and  esprit?  They  study  anatomy  and  perspective. 
And  they  are  selected  individuals,  drawn  to  the 
itadioe  by  the  urge  of  innate  aptitude.  Suppose 
that  all  the  students  of  a  high  school  had  to  know 
the  rudiments  of  piano-playing  or  sketching  a  scene. 
Sometimes    I    wonder — onlv    wonder    of    course — 


204  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

whether  the  very  fact  that  the  average  teacher  of 
English  is  not  an  artist  in  language  may  not  explain 
why  we  go  to  work  so  much  more  rhapsodically  than 
the  teachers  of  other  arts.  Occasionally  I  wonder 
how  Milton  and  Kipling  would  teach  English — after 
ten  years  of  experience. 

I  suspect  they  would  concede  something  to  liter- 
ary ability,  would  admit  that  two  variations  of 
strictly  mechanical  marking  are  proper:  (1)  To 
deduct  something  (say  not  over  20%)  for  generally 
faulty  arrangement;  (2)  to  reserve  the  right  to  add 
a  bonus  (say  not  over  20%,  or  at  the  very  most  not 
over  30%)  for  pleasing  effectiveness.  Then  without 
distraction  they  could  affix  grades  that  would  mean 
something  in  another  school;  they  could  with  less 
labor  be  four  times  as  useful,  since  they  could  read 
four  times  as  many  compositions;  .they  could  per- 
form a  work  for  which  the  colleges  would  call  them 
blessed. 

What  should  pupils  write  about?  Always  about 
familiar  matters  in  which  they  have  a  real  interest. 
It  may  occasionally  happen  that  a  class  is  so  well 
acquainted  with  a  book  that  they  will  care  to  discuss 
some  character — what  was  wrong  with  Godfrey 
Cass?  was  Banquo  dishonest?  If  at  any  time  you 
are  sure  they  have  some  thoughts  which  only  lazi- 
ness would  prevent  their  caring  to  express,  assign 
such  a  topic;  but  in  general  don't.  If  you  ever  feel 
sure  that  their  minds  really  contain  some  elemen- 
tary criticism,  try  that;  but  the  experiment  is  of 
doubtful  utility.  Give  them  subjects  that  they  have 
been  interested  in.  Limit  yourself  further  by  the 
consideration  that  though  they  were  interested  in 
that  tramp,  they  were  not  seeing  him,  as  you  were, 


THEMES  205 

tli rough  literary  lenses;  they  were  not  calling  to 
mind  the  dainty  character  sketch  or  the  dramatic 
awesomeness  of  a  wrecked  life;  they  were  not  see- 
ing through  him  to  a  pile  of  words  about  him.  You 
are  always  in  danger  of  beginn'mir  al  the  literary 
enHjtfLa^snbject.  Don't.  Begin  with  tin-  tiling  in 
itself.  What  did  they  notice?  How  did  they  feelT 
Why  <li<l  they  care?  In  all  your  explanations  of  how 
to  go  to  work,  how  to  arrange  a  story  or  present  a 
picture,  talk  of  things,  of  facts,  of  examples.  You 
get  nowhere  by  reciting  from  a  book,  "  Literature, 
in  order  to  be  spontaneous,  must  derive  its  method 
as  well  as  its  material  from  life."  Such  a  marvel- 
ously  unsympathetic  rigmarole  comes  from  a  mind 
that  believes  that  "the  art  of  being  natural  when 
we  write  is  something  that  most  of  us  have  to 
learn."  This  dictum  is  too  sadly  true  when  applied* 
to  the  jargon  that  we  teachers  use  in  addressing  chil- [ 
divn.  We  have  been  so  befumed  in  the  charms  of 
studied  spontaneity  that  we  quite  forget  how  to  be 
natural  Think  of  telling  a  child  that  when  his  story 
is  once  started  ' '  his  next  question  is  how  to  proceed 
60  as  to  hold  the  attention  of  his  hearers."  Suggest 
no  such  question  to  him.  Start  with  that  thing,  that 
queer  happening,  that  mighty  good  story,  and  attend 
only  to  that  "Studying  the  art  of  telling  a  story 
naturally"  is  a  vicious  procedure,  for  it  destroys  all 
naturalness  and  creates  the  belief  that  theme-writing 
is  a  cult,  an  esoteric  process  of  weaving  intangibili- 
ties according  to  an  unseen  pattern  into  an  acro- 
amatic  abstrusity.  Expect  nolhing  from  the  theory 
of  the  t.'xt  or  your  own  expounding,  (live  examples. 
What  is  done  in  the  beginning  of  this  extract?  For 
what  particular  purpose  did  the  author  start  a  pars- 


206  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

graph  there?  What  was  the  concluding  sentence 
about?  After  we  have  seen  that  freckle-faced  boy 
outwit  the  policeman,  shall  we  walk  home  a  placid 
mile  and  eat  a  placid  dinner?  That  particular  thing 
that  is  done  in  a  quoted  paragraph  they  can  imitate 
or  adopt  or  get  the  point  of;  the  psychological  con- 
siderations that  lead  us  to  theoretical  generaliza- 
tions they  cannot  use.  Nor  can  you;  nor  did  any 
artist  ever  profit  by  theories.  It  is  the  nature  of  an 
inartistic  mind  to  apprehend  theories;  it  is  the 
creative  mind  which  sees  and  represents  things.  The 
normal  child  mind  is  never  analytical;  it  is  some- 
what creative.  It  is  worked  upon  by  that  particular 
example. 

Our  young  people  are  so  fond  of  stories,  read  so 
many,  that  most  of  them  can  by  purely  unconscious 
imitation  swing  quickly  through  the  "who", 
"where",  "when,"  and  "why"  in  lively  dialogue, 
can  keep  the  narrative  moving  interestingly,  and  can 
terminate  with  a  f '  snapper ' '  or  significant  sentence. 
TneX  .prefer^  s^ojj-£writing  to  any  other  type.  A 
good  device  for  suggesting  a  plot  and  a  climax  to 
aim  at  is  to  read  some  humorous  anecdote,  requir- 
ing them  to  lead  up  to  the  situation  by  getting  us 
better  acquainted  with  the  people  and  what  they 
were  about.  Description  is  imt^j^elljiked.  Trv 
to  keep  away  from  inventories  like  "my  room"  or 
"a  village  street";  suggest  life  of  some  kind:  a  fine 
dog,  the  man  I  admire  most,  the  bleachers,  a  squall, 
a  crowded  car,  what  makes  Monroe  Street  interest- 
ing. Give  them  a  chance  for  a  bit  of  action  or  sug- 
gestion of  narrative  to  help  in  placing  the  picture 
before  a  reader.  Don't  assign  "description,"  but 
ask  for  a  picture  of  how^Tooked  and  what  feelings 


THEMES  207 

it  aroused — remembering  that  this  is  an  age  of 
oving"  pictures.  Exposition  is  least  liked. 
Usually  it  is  necessary  to  give  two  or  three  topics, 
so  that  all  may  be  explaining  the  operation  of  what 
they  understand  at  first  hand.     A  insist  that 

tli*-  main  effort  in  such  a  theme  is  to  bring  out  clearly 
what  thr  reader  dors  not  know.  Hence  part  of  the 
assignment  should  specify  who  the  reader  is  to  be. 
haps  he  knows  nothing  at  all,  like  the  Hawaiian 
below ;  more  likely  he  knows  a  good  deal,  as  in  the 
16  of  electric  lighting.  In  either  case  a  writer's 
first  concern,  his  whole  effort,  is  to  realize  just  what 
it  is  that  the  reader  cannot  picture  or  understand, 
and  to  make  that  clear,  working  up  carefully  from 
what  the  reader  does  know.  Tell  them  that  school 
texts  often  explain  processes  as  if  for  people  who 
already  know — thus:  "In  the  first  type  of  the  ex- 
pository paragraph  which  we  shall  study,  the  main 
thoughts  used  to  amplify  the  fundamental  idea  stand 
to  each  other  in  coordinate  relation."  Tell  them 
they  must  do  hotter  than  that;  they  must  really 
"get  something  over"  to  a  reader.  If  they  are  Lioinir 
!!  n  Hawaiian  hoy  how  to  make  a  snow  fort,  they 
mustn't  talk  about  the  "hoary  meteor"  nor  about 
''the  aqueous  vapor  of  the  atmosphere  precipitated 
in  a  crystalline  form,"  nor  must  they  suddenly  begin 
to  roll  up  a  ball.  They  must  tell  in  human  language 
what  snow-flakes  are  like,  how  snow  looks  in  drifts, 
how  it  cannot  be  rolled  in  zero  weather,  how  feathery 
flakes  become  icy  missiles,  how  hig  spheres  of  snow 
can  be  made  and  oemented  Most  of  the  boys  know 
the  lingo  of  the  garage;  tell  them  it  means  nothing 
to  you;  yon  must  have  plain  speech.  Wireless  or 
electric  lighting  or  base-running  rules  or  making 


208  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

bread  or  tangoing  or  stage  scenery  or  sailing  or  how 
we  know  what  time  it  is  or  making  honey  or  how 
clams  live — all  must  be  explained  so  as  to  bring  out 
what  is  not  known. 

Give  optional  topics  frequently,  one  for  the  liter- 
als and  one  for  the  fancifuls.  Or  set  one  kind  of 
topic  or  one  central  situation  which  may  be  devel- 
oped in  any  way  they  like.  See  whether  you  get  good 
results  by  letting  each  choose  whatever  topic  he 
pleases.  Probably  they  will  enjoy  this  free  choice, 
and  the  resulting  variety  is  much  more  pleasant 
reading.  Often  such  license  has  to  be  limited — as: 
"No  journals  of  how  I  spent  a  week,"  or  "No 
trips,"  or  "Anything  but  a.  story."  Warn  them 
against  the  pointless  succession  of  "We  got  to  a 

hotel  about  eight  that  night.  The  next  morning" 

and  so  on  for  a  series  of  samenesses.  Developing 
the  little  thing  is  always  the  best  exercise. 

In  general  it  is  safest  to  advise  against  any  intro- 
duction or  summary  or  conclusion.  Such  things 
may  be  needed  in  labored  essays  (though  even  that 
is  doubtful),  but  are  a  good  deal  worse  than  useless 
in  themes  a  few  hundred  words  long.  Pupils  easily 
get  into  the  way  of  writing  a  preliminary  nourish 
and  a  puttering  close.  Urge  them  to  begin  at  the 
beginning  and  stop  at  the  end.  Read  examples  of 
ways  in  which  members  of  the  class  arrived  at  a 
strong  closing. 

Whether  to  require  an  outline  prepared  before  be- 
ginning to  write,  whether  to  require  notes,  whether 
to  resort  to  similes  of  freight-cars  and  geometry  as 
an  aid  to  good  paragraphing,  whether  to  advise  furi- 
ous writing  and  phlegmatic  correcting — this  sort  of 
thing   I   may   have   opinions    about   after   another 


TIIK.MES  209 

fifteen  years.  1  have  not  arrived  at  much  of  any- 
thingBofar.  Bon  have  authors  gone  to  work!  One 
has  never  blotted  a  line  and  another  tempers  ami 
i  iiirnds  for  years.  Ibsen  helped  himself  by  toying 
with  a  trayful  of  dolls  and  Sheridan  could  be  forced 
into  writing  a  mile  a  minute.  Rhetoricus  may  sort 
out  hundreds  of  little  jottings;  a  Gettysburg  Ad- 
dress  may  be  penned  without  one  preliminary 
memorandum.  Some  modern  authors  hire  a  hack 
to  do  their  punctuating;  some,  like  Cyrano,  would 
not  have  their  own  pointing  disturbed  for  five  dol- 
lars per  comma. 

Yet  every  one  has  kept  his  eye  on  unity,  coherence, 
and  emphasis.  Every  one  has  had  a  plan — no  matter 
whether  he  committed  it  to  paper  or  not.  One  per- 
son is  dependent  on  that  written  form,  as  an  archi- 
tect must  first  draw  plans;  another  can  no  more  let 
his  fluid  scheme  get  on  to  cold  paper  than  a  spider 
can  distribute  its  liquid  before  spinning  a  web.  You 
have  by  instinct  or  habit  developed  a  method  of  your 
own.    Insensibly  this  is  what  you  will  teach. 

It  seems  to  me  that  by  all  logic  and  psychology  a 
preliminary  outline  must  be  a  good  thing.  But  it 
may  be  a  mere  make-believe  that  the  writer  has  not 
used ;  it  may  even  impede  ready  and  fluent  expres- 
sion. Your  textbook  will  chart  the  process  as  con- 
fidently as  though  it  were  explaining  how  to  lay 
bricks.  You  will  do  well  not  to  share  this  confidence 
until  your  observation  confirms  it.  The  plainest 
results  can  be  exhibited  from  any  set  of  themes.  The 
how-to-obtain  is  quite  another  matter.  Contrast  an 
Interesting,  prompt  opening  with  a  verbose  and  tire- 
some one;  contrast  three  sequent  paragraphs  with 
ten  tiny  and  planless  ones;  contrast  the  mere  stop- 


> 


7 


210  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ping  of  a  story  with  that  bright  climax  that  is  worth 
all  the  rest  of  the  narrative.  Examples  can  be 
imitated.  Theories  and  methods  are  ineffective. 
For  many  years  I  never  required  an  outline,  but 
thought  I  ought  to.  I  am  now  requiring  that  on  the 
top  of  the  first  page  there  shall  be  a  numbered  series 
of  titles  for  each  paragraph ;  the  directions  are ' '  one 
brief  title  for  each  paragraph,  so  that  I  can  see  at 
a  glance  just  why  you  divided  as  you  did."  This 
has  commended  itself  so  strongly  that  I  shall  never 
abandon  it.  Though  I  suspect  that  half  the  outlines 
are  simply  added  after  the  paragraphing  is  all  com- 
pleted, this  does  not  worry  me.  The  point  is  that 
each  young  writer  feels  a  responsibility  for  naming 
some  time  just  what  he  has  been  about.  Perhaps 
it  does  him  more  good  to  find  out  as  he  reviews  his 
theme  that  two  paragraph  titles  are  absurdly  similar 
or  that  the  third  paragraph  demands  two  titles.  The 
plan  results  in  better  dividing — that's  the  whole 
point. 

And  what  about  paragraphs?  I  don't  know.  No- 
body knows.  A  decade  ago  they  were  the  central 
citadel  to  be  attacked.  Teachers  directed  all  be- 
sieging operations  at  them.  Sentences  were  simply 
outlying  breastworks.  Even  today  paragraphing  is 
the  subject  of  monographs  and  long  chapters.  My 
own  feeling  is  this:  reajly  effective  paragraphing 
is  the  outward  sign  of  an  inward  and  spiritual  con- 
dition ;  it  shows  sound  thinking.  No  teacher,  in  any 
subject,  can  do  much  to  develop  the  power  of  sound 
thinking.  He  can  do  no  more  than  instruct  a  dull 
mind  in  the  forms  of  reasoning  about  triangles;  can 
go  no  further  than  developing  to  some  extent  the 
knowledge  of  the  facts  of  Latin  syntax.    Power  to 


Til  KM1  211 

think  originally — well,  what  do  you  say!  Now,  a 
me  is  a  piece  of  original  work.  We  can  teach  a 
boy  that  it  ought  normally  to  appear  in  several  divi 
sions  and  can  exact  that  appearance.  We  can  do 
more.  WTe  can  train  him  (after  a  fashion)  to  stick 
to  one  part  of  his  subject  in  each  chunk  of  composi- 
ti'ii,  to  carry  us  from  one  to  the  next  without  too 
violent  a  jolt,  and  to  arrive  at  something  better  than 
the  middle  of  his  subject.  That  is  no  mean  result. 
It  is  a  great  big  one. 

We  take  our  youngest  boys  (corresponding  to  the 
eighth  grade  or  a  first  form)  through  that  stage  of 
development  at  which  they  are  able  to  leave  an  inch 
of  margin  on  the  left  (no  slight  achievement)  and 
to  present  a  250-word  composition  as  not  less  than 
i  nor  more  than  four  or  five  blocks,  each  of  which 
is  indented.  We  speak  of  these  blocks  as  para- 
graphs. We  speak  often  of  "one  part  in  one  para- 
graph,''  but  do  not  go  deeper  into  the  philosophy 
than  to  point  out  that  "here  you  begin  to  tell  about 
what  happened  next  morning' '  or  "here  a  new  per- 
beghifl  to  do  things"  or  "here  you  go  to  a  dif- 
■nt  place.' '  The  next  year  we  insist  more  defi- 
nitely on  having  a  reason  for  paragraphing.  From 
the  beginning  we  discourage  the  one-or-two  sentence 
paragraph,  especially  the  separation  of  that  intro- 
tory  sentence  of  the  first  paragraph  as  if  it  were 
an  introductory  paragraph  to  the  whole  theme.  We 
try  to  get  separate  paragraphs  for  dialogue,  but 
otherwise  maintain  that  a  300- word  theme  would 
seldom  need  six  divisions.  In  the  third  year  we  keep 
up  an  incessant  command,  "Name  the  topic."  We 
are  always  inquisitive  as  to  why  this  division  was 
made  or  why  no  division  was  made  there. 


212  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Take  plenty  of  time  when  you  assign  the  first 
theme  to  give  exact  instructions  as  to  form.  Make 
everything  explicit,  say  it  twice,  leave  nothing  to  be 
taken  for  granted.  There  is  to  be  a  margin  at  the 
left  one  inch  wide,  and  there  is  to  be  no  margin  at 
the  right.  There  is  to  be  a  title  set  well  up  above 
the  first  line,  each  word  of  which  (except  articles, 
conjunctions,  and  prepositions)  is  to  be  capitalized. 
Announce  the  required  length  as  "not  less  than  so 
many  words";  for  if  you  say  "pages,"  you  will 
have  to  accept  half -measure  from  some.  At  the  top 
of  the  first  page  there  shall  be  "just  one  brief  title 
for  each  paragraph,"  numbered  to  correspond  to 
the  paragraphs.  Pages  are  to  be  numbered,  are  to 
be  arranged  in  the  right  order,  are  to  be  folded  in 
one  way;  the  name  is  to  appear  on  the  side  you 
specify. 

You  gather  up  the  sheaf  the  following  day  and 
take  it  home  to  read.  Use  the  very  simplest  marks. 
Some  schools  publish  an  incredibly  long  list  of  sym- 
bols  to  denote  the  kinds  of  errors.  How  many  they 
actually  use,  how  accurately  the  students  know  what 
they  mean,  I  cannot  say.  Nor  can  I  condemn  the 
P  method,  because  I  have  never  given  it  a  trial.  I 
have,  however,  some  indications  that  it  cannot  pay 
for  the  extra  care  and  time  it  demands.  There  must 
be  an  advantage  to  the  student  in  finding  out  what 
is  wrong.  Not  that  I  ever  puzzle  him.  I  never  mark 
a  kind  of  error  which  has  not  been  fully  commented 
on  in  recitations ;  or  if  I  do,  I  write  a  brief  explana- 
tion in  the  margin.  Occasionally  I  have  to  make 
sure  that  he  sees  the  reason  for  a  correction.  If,  for 
instance,  he  has  one  parenthetical  comma  and  has 
forgotten   the   other,   I   draw   a   ring   around   the 


THK.MKs  213 

comma,  run  a  line  over  to  where  the  other  comma 
ought  to  be,  continue  the  line  out  to  the  margin,  and 
write  "Two."  I  may  draw  a  long  line  under  a  series 
of  words  on  either  side  of  a  conjunction  and  write 
in  the  margin  "Punct."  Sometimes  I  may  run  a 
line  from  an  unpunctuated  who  or  where  out  to  a 
"Restrictive! "in  the  margin,  but  I  avoid  most  time- 
killing  memoranda  and  notes  and  queries  and  sting- 
ing rebukes  and  humorous  comments.  Usually  a  big 
lamation  mark  or  a  huge  X  or  a  huge  V  will  do 
more  work.  In  marginal  comments  I  seldom  rewrite 
anything  or  try  to  do  more  detailed  criticizing  than 
just  to  say  "Clumsy"  or  "Change"  or  "Rewrite." 
(At  the  end  of  the  theme  I  may  write  a  sentence  or 
two  of  general  criticism  or  of  directions  for  recast- 
ing or  of  encouragement.)  I  often  pass  over  oddities 
of  diction.  I  sometimes  judge  that  a  form  like  Not 
at  all,  that's  not  true  is  "really"  a  sentence  error, 
but  that  I  will  not  count  off  for  it;  though  I  require 
it  to  be  rewritten  with  a  semicolon.  If  there  is  only 
one  carelessness  on  a  theme,  or  if  there  are  two  or 
three  rather  slight  faults  in  a  good  piece  of  writing. 
I  may  mark  "+=100,"  which  means  that  general 
Hence  has  caused  the  small  blemishes  to  be  ex- 
cused. Similarly  if  the  writing  is  generally  heedless 
I  may  count  off  somewhat  more  than  the  arithmet- 
ical total  or  count  up  the  smaller  errors  unforgiv- 
ing 1\.  I  dash  a  ring  around  such  queer  things  as 
"the  kens  of  the  police",  "to  float  on  the  currant", 
"again  once  more";  but  I  am  not  much  concerned 
with  them.  Occasionally  there  will  be  in  one  sen- 
t-  nee  a  double  error— e.  g.,  "And,  to  my  small 
knowledge  there  haven't  been  many  had  wrecks  on 
tin    \. w  Haven."    The  phrasing  is  clumsy,  mixing 


214  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

two  idioms  and  conveying  nothing;  but  that  is  a 
once-in-a-great-while  matter  compared  with  "two 
commas  or  none."  So,  to  avoid  a  complicated  lot  of 
correcting  at  one  spot,  I  indicate  the  punctuation 
and  say  nothing  about  the  wording.  The  misused 
comma  may  seem  to  you  insignificant  compared  with 
the  clumsy  phrasing,  but  it  is  really  the  greater 
error  in  freshman  English.  Such  a  phrasing  may 
be  typical  of  a  careless  mind,  but  is  not  a  typical 
form  of  carelessness.  We  must  watch  for  the  ever- 
lastingly recurrent  particulars,  following  the  Law- 
renceville  motto  that  "The  only  inexcusable  fault 
is  carelessness.7 '  On  the  back  of  some  themes 
I  jot  abbreviated  memoranda  of  what  needs  com- 
ment before  the  whole  class — of  what  is  eternal  and 
typical.  Then  I  give  a  harangue  about  "the  same 
old  things  that  we  have  been  hearing  all  these 
months' ' — like  laid  for  lay;  and  I  try  to  get  time 
for  some  of  the  more  common  kinds  of  clumsiness: 
"the  body  was  cut  and  scratched  with  numerous 
finger-marks  • ',  "refrains  from  hitting  him  with  the 
excuse' '  (with  causes  more  absurdities  than  any 
other  word),  "since  they  both  were  in  each  other's 
company"  (both  is  a  constant  nuisance). 

.  It  is  always  the  same  old  things.  The  more  ex- 
perience you  gain,  the  more  you  will  see  that  all 

I  avoidable  awkwardness  and  all  attainable  graces 
reduce  to  a  few  simple  fundamentals.  Do  you  strive 
for  maturity  in  sentences?  Attack  so,  ceaselessly 
putting  on  the  board  50  that,  and  so;  attack  so  he 
could  not,  always  suggesting  and  so  could  not.  In- 
veigh against  the  aimless  repetition  of  words.  It 
passes  all  belief  how  a  pupil  never  hears  his  own 
sentences  until  you  read  them  before  the  class ;  how 


THEMES  215 

month  after  month  he  will  persist  in  saying  "Then 
w<  came  to  a  cliff;  at  the  foot  of  this  cliff";  how 
he  cannot  give  up  that  repeated  noun;  how  after 
you  have  three  times  trailed  your  red  pencil  across 
one  of  his  pages  to  show  nine  boats  or  ten  rooms 
or  eleven  Indians  he  will  submit  you  a  page  with 
<n  schools  on  it.  If  you  keep  at  him  and  keep  at 
him,  you  are  revising  his  whole  mentality,  making 
him  attain  to  all  the  maturity  he  will  ever  be  capable 
of.  Would  you  have  variety  in  sentences?  Don't 
present  any  theory  of  monotony ;  insist  that  all  sub- 
jects must  not  come  first ;  read  the  beginnings  of  ten 
babyishly  similar  sentences  on  Tom  Jones's  theme. 
Then  plan  to  follow  Tom  up,  to  hound  him,  to  get 
finally  a  page  on  which  four  subjects  are  not  first. 
Bead  a  string  of  consecutive  simple  sentences  from 
Marian  Chevalier's  story,  coming  to  the  end  of  each 
with  a  thud,  showing  what  they  sound  like.  Read 
five  consecutive  compound  sentences  from  Bob's 
description,  dwelling  clankingly  on  that  infernal  and, 
until  the  class  hears  what  monotony  is.  Rehearse 
and  rehearse  and  rehearse  some  decent  complex  sen- 
tences beginning  with  a  dependent  clause  and  closing 
strongly.  Hold  up  for  laughter  that  aimless  habit 
of  saying  "Nothing  at  all  was  happening,  when 
suddenly  something  portentous  happened."  Inquire 
and  inquire  and  inquire  whether  they  are  not  willing 
to  begin  with  a  while  or  a  just  as.  Those  are  the 
operations  that  prevail  upon  dull  minds  to  imitate 
something  approaching  a  mature  and  varied  style. 
It  is  always  the  same  few  old  things  in  punctua- 
tion. You  might  guess  from  Chapter  VIII  that  a  uni- 
verse of  complexities  was  before  you.  By  no  means. 
No  high-school  pupil  will  ever  look  uneducated  in 


216  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

'writing  if  he  habitually  attends  to  six  perfectly  sim- 
ple matters :  commas  with  nouns  of  address,  commas 
before  words  that  mean  but,  comma  before  and 
1 ' when  the  subject  changes, "  quotations,  non-restric- 
tive words,  and  a  semicolon  for  grammatical  inde- 
pendence. The  last  is  worth  all  the  rest.  Mark  non- 
observance  ^.ve  times  as  severely.  Don't  speak  of 
1 1  comma-blunders, ' '  for  we  have  found  that  term 
confusing;  call  them  " sentence-errors.' '  Swear  by 
all  your  hopes  of  success  loTiate~Tihem.  Lay  your 
hand  upon  the  altar  and  vow,  by  all  that  is  sacred 
in  education,  that  you  will  eternally  maintain  feud 
against  them. 

In  slighter  matters  plan  always  to  observe  what 
are  the  few  recurrent  ways  of  showing  ignorance  or 
being  tiresome.  Study  to  avoid  non-essentials,  to 
have  nothing  to  say  about  your  prepossessions,  to 
pass  over  some  colloquialisms  or  downright  slang. 
As  a  non-essential  I  am  inclined  to  classify  shall.  To 
be  sure  I  mark  it,  speak  about  it,  ask  for  it ;  but  it  is 
a  foreign  idiom  to  most  of  the  new  generation  even 
in  the  plainest  indicative.  To  require  "He  said  he 
should  like  to  go ' '  is  almost  to  destroy  faith  in  your 
ruling  against  had  ought.  As  a  prepossession  I  will 
instance  the  case  of  a  novice  teacher  who  once  marked 
a  parsing  paper  zero  because  an  eighth-grade  boy 
had  omitted  periods,  and  a  teacher  of  twenty-five 
years  of  experience  who  insists  that  where  cannot 
mean  ivhither,  and  my  own  self  who  for  some  years 
fought  needlessly  against  dove  for  dived.  As  slang 
about  which  nothing  need  be  said  I  suggest  fake, 
pinch,  getaway,  hike,  exam,  dinky — why  write  them? 
To  declaim  against  all  ephemeral  terms  is  to  dis- 
credit yourself.    If  they  appear  in  sueh  a  dignified 


THEMES  217 

setting  that  the  class  will  see  the  humor  when  you 
read  the  sentence,  they  may  be  worth  a  comment; 
but  a  teacher  who  tries  to  taboo  them  as  wrong  perse 
will  only  lose  the  confidence  of  unesthetic  boys.  (I 
don't  know  about  girls;  perhaps  they  would  be 
docile.)  In  contrast  to  such  not- to-be-noticed  things 
are  a  few  tiresome  words  like  near-by;  nowadays 
every  drug-store,  all  trees,  all  streams,  all  theaters 
are  ' '  near-by. ' '  However  is  used  too  much,  and  half 
the  time  as  a  mere  loose  linking,  with  no  notion  of 
its  meaning.  Due  to  perpetually  appears  with  the 
meaning  on  account  of;  indeed  it  is  so  common  that 
I  am  wondering  if  it  may  not  establish  itself.  Parti- 
ciples are  required  to  perform  the  most  extraor- 
dinary feats — as,  "  Rowing  out  about  a  hundred 
yards,  the  stone  was  dropped  overboard.' '  Some 
young  writers  will  insist  that  their  initial  a's  and 
w's  are  " meant  to  be  large.1 '  Others  will  most  un- 
accountably capitalize  an  occasional  noun;  most  of 
those  who  write  latin  will  speak  of  an  Inn.  By  some 
similar  cockneyism  they  will  repeatedly  refer  on  the 
same  theme  to  a  man  as  which  and  a  country  or  a 
pet  alligator  as  who.  Be  on  the  watch  for  similar 
cases  of  faults  that  are  persistent  and  common,  so 
as  to  get  emphasis  on  them  and  not  be  wasting  time 
on  what  is  unusual  or  non-typical. 

One   Of  the  best  wflyg  in   aflyfi   oyogifllifc-AnH   time 

and  tamper  is  to  insist  that  syllables  be  joined  and 
words  be  spaced  wide  apart.  Laboratory  experiment 
has  shown  that  nothing  else  so  retards  a  reader  as 
lessness  with  spacing. 
When  I  deliver  1  ekly  harangue  on  the  wdek'fl 

compositions,  I  aim  at  the  simple,  the  necessary,  the 
same  old  things  that  were  spoken  about  last  week 


218  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

and  that  are  going  to  recur  a  month  hence.  An  error 
thus  denounced  in  public  assumes  an  importance 
that  it  may  not  have  in  private  conference:  the 
snickers  of  the  class  are  convincing.  So  far  as  pos- 
sible avoid  naming  the  offender.  This  makes  him 
resentful  and — here  is  the  real  reason — distracts  the 
attention  of  the  class  from  a  principle  to  a  personal 
" sting.' '  The  reading  of  extracts,  good  or  bad,  the 
reading  of  a  good  theme,  the  scoring  of  a  bad  one — 
all  should  be  impersonal. 

I  very  seldom  require  rewriting  of  themes,  but 
always  have  them  corrected  by  the  following  time- 
saving  plan:  the  pupil  first  goes  through  his  theme 
numbering  every  mark  I  have  made ;  then  on  a  sepa- 
rate sheet,  numbering  to  correspond,  he  writes  his 
words  and  sentences  as  they  ought  to  be ;  folds  this 
in  the  theme  and  at  the  next  recitation  hands  in  these 
corrections.  A  pupil  who  is  careful  has  little  work 
to  do ;  one  who  is  careless  would  rather  rewrite 
entire. 

In  all  your  contriving  and  exhorting  bear  in  mind 
this  little  allegory:  Once  upon  a  time  an  apostle  of 
Apollo,  carrying  his  violin,  met  a  Wyoming  sheep- 
herder  who  was  buying  provisions  in  a  grocery 
store.  "Let  me  play  you  this  charming  thing,"  said 
the  apostle, ' '  so  that  when  you  are  back  on  the  range 
you  may  try  it  upon  your  shepherd's  pipe." 


CHAPTER  X 

BEADING 

Why  do  people  read?  If  that  seems  too  universal 
to  admit  of  an  answer,  narrow  it  down  to  a  particu- 
lar book  and  a  particular  person.  Upon  the  reply 
depends  your  whole  conception  of  what  it  means  "to 
teach  literature.' '  If  the  answer  seems  obvious, 
close  this  book  and  ponder  an  hour  before  you  open 
it  again.  Any  solution  offered  to  you  ready-made 
is  worthless,  but  your  own  earnest  thought^  may  be 
as  a  light  to  your  feet. 

Do  you  happen  to  recall  Whittier 's  poem,  The 
Demon  of  the  Study f  When  "she"  read  a  tale  of 
woe,  there  were  tears  in  her  eye ;  and  a  merry  song 
would  make  her  voice  as  glad  as  an  April  bird's. 
But  the  demon  read  hour  after  hour  in  the  self-same 
tone.  He  was  a  "reading  fiend.' '  Whittier  did  not 
know  whence  he  came.  We  know.  He  comes  from 
that  sense  of  duty  about  literature,  that  feeling  that 
we  ought  to  read.  All  specializers  in  English  have 
read  as  a  business  and  have  felt  that  they  ought  "to 
supply  their  most  serious  deficiencies."  It  has  sel- 
dom been  an  irksome  duty.  "The  stout  old  man 
with  the  greasy  hat"  has  not  taken  the  joy  out  of 
Ehf  Ode  to  the  West  Wind;  he  has  not  really  ob- 
sessed us ;  many  of  us  have  been  quite  unconscious 
of  his  presence.  Whittier  had  more  sensitive  per- 
ions.  He  felt  that  hidden  motive — that  Apollo's 
wares  are  precious  and  that  we  must  busily  gather 

219 


220  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

heaps  of  them — which  impelled  him  to  read  and  read 
and  read ;  and  he  personified  the  impulse.  All  things 
that  bore  the  government  stamp  of  the  kingdom  of 
the  muses  were  objects  of  the  poet's  desire.  "She" 
very  likely  had  not  the  least  use  for  The  Rape  of  the 
Loch  or  The  Tatler.  Probably  there  were  weeks 
when  she  did  not  read  a  page,  and  never  felt  one 
covetous  pang  for  the  literary  treasure  she  might 
have  piled  up  in  those  days.  Whittier  credits  her 
with  being  the  right  kind  of  reader. 

Should  there  be  any  such  thing  as  an  " ought" 
when  it  comes  to  reading?  If  a  person  finds  no 
pleasure  in  The  Lady  of  the  Lake,  ought  he  to  train 
himself  into  a  condition  in  which  the  poem  is  "not 
so  bad  after  all"?  Should  we  as  teachers  feel  that 
pupils  ought  to  like  Two  Years  before  the  Mast,  and 
that  it  is  sad  if  they  prefer  Potash  and  Perlmutter 
to  Sesame  and  Lilies?  Or  should  we  say  that  read- 
ing is  a  pleasure,  a  luxury ;  that  when  we  make  any 
attempt  to  alter  and  educate  tastes  we  are  violating 
the  very  spirit  that  makes  literature  valuable? 
Even  if  we  seem  to  succeed  in  luring  the  barbarians 
from  the  Cosmopolitan  to  Thackeray,  have  we  really 
benefited  them?  Have  we  not  merely  adorned  the 
surface?  Is  it  not  a  process  of  painting  the  leopard's 
spots  ?  To  put  it  concretely :  if  "  she ' '  had  not  cared 
for  poetry  and  if  Whittier  had  put  her  into  his  Eng- 
lish class,  would  the  results  have  been  worth  while? 

I  should  never  have  known  how  vehement  the 
usual  affirmative  is  if  I  had  not  once  happened  to 
attend  a  certain  "round  tabje."  The  discussion 
languished.  The  experienced  teachers  were  hopeful 
of  nothing;  the  novices  feared  to  ask  questions. 
After  an  embarrassing  period  of  silence  the  hour 


READING  221 

was  saved  by  a  girl's  self-sacrifice.  She  propounded : 
"Why  is  it  that  pupils  don't  like  to  read  the 
-sics?"  There  was  a  tempest.  Every  one  of  the 
fifty-eight  ladies  was  ready  to  rise  and  speak  her 
thoughts.  For  the  life  of  me  I  could  not  guess  why. 
The  query  seemed  to  me  as  natural  and  as  useless 
as  if  in  a  Bible  class  someone  should  ask,  "Why  is 
it  that  people  don't  like  to  be  good?"  I  have  seen 
a  class  enjoy  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  but  not  in  the 
sense  in  which  they  "like"  the  Saturday  Evening 
Post. 

I  was  soon  enlightened.  The  novice  and  I  were 
alone  in  a  dark  pit,  and  torch-bearers  came  from 
every  side.  It  appeared  that  pupils  did  like  the 
classics.  One  lady  asserted  that  she  could  not  recall 
a  single  instance  in  her  career  of  the  failure  of  a 
class  to  like  a  piece  of  literature.  No  others  could 
go  as  far  as  that,  yet  all  thought  the  dislike  was  ex- 
imial.  Imagine  such  a  question  in  such  a  com- 
I  >any !  Try  to  imagine  my  Whittier  question  in  such 
an  environment.  The  base  and  cowardly  cold-heart- 
edness  of  it  would  have  filled  the  room  with  tumultu- 
ous pity.  Worth  while  to  try?  Why,  it  was  tragic 
that  anyone  should  fail.  I  caught  no  least  indication 
that  the  "worth  while"  question  would  have  been 
regarded  as  a  sane  one. 

Perhaps  it  is  not.  It  may  be  like  asking,  "Is  it 
worth  while  to  try  to  save  human  souls?"  Since  it 
is  generally  conceded  that  every  person  has  a  soul 
and  that  there  is  a  way  to  save  it,  a  minister  who 
answered  "no"  would  seem  to  deny  his  calling. 
Most  teachers  invest  their  profession  with  this 
sacred  character.  A  boy  who  has  been  taught  to 
enjoy  Shakespeare  has  been  saved. 


222  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Probably  you  are  already  imbued  with  this  notion. 
You  will  find  it  breathing  all  about  you  from  the 
moment  you  enter  on  your  labors,  from  every  col- 
league and  every  "suggestions  for  teachers."  If 
you  meet  with  discouragements,  remember  that  there 
is  a  teacher  in  the  world  who  does  not  know  that  he 
ever  induced  one  human  being  to  like  a  piece  of 
literature.  This  confession  may  comfort  and  sustain 
you,  because  it  is  likely  that  hundreds  of  teachers 
are  no  better  off. 

"Why  do  people  read?  Excluding  all  of  us  who  are 
haunted  by  the  fiend  and  all  who  read  so  as  to  be 
able  to  say  they  have  read  (notice  I  shift  to  "they"), 
why  do  people  curl  up  with  a  book?  Because  they 
are  after  pleasure,  wish  entertainment.  No  author 
wants  his  work  perused  on  any  other  terms.  No  one 
who  reads  for  any  other  reason  is  honoring  the 
writer.  If  a  friend  of  yours  never  looks  at  a  novel 
that  is  more  than  three  years  old,  you  may  feel  sorry 
for  him  because  such  a  great  lot  of  pleasure  is  denied 
1  him.  Do  you  try  to  convert  him?  Do  you  feel  that 
he  ought  to  be  saved  esthetically? 

That  is  where  the  whole  world  divides  into  two 
classes,  the  missionaries  and  the  others.  If  your 
instinct  is,  having  the  light,  to  pass  it  on,  your  life 
will  be  an  effort  to  convert  pupils  to  the  beauties  of 
literature. 

It  is  a  noble  instinct.  The  world  needs  more  of 
your  kind.  But  there  is  a  chance  that  you  will  be 
more  effective  in  proportion  as  you  sympathize  with 
the  other  fellow.  How  about  being  missionaried? 
Are  you  yourself  most  apt  to  be  converted  by  the 
person  whose  manner  announces,  "I  propose  to  in- 
fluence your  soul"?    As  for  me,  my  soul  retires  into 


READING  223 

a  corner  at  the  first  intimation  of  such  a  design.  I 
resent  any  effort  to  lure  and  proselyte  my  spirit,  and 
I  have  noticed  that  young  people  are  singularly  like 
th<  ir  elders  in  the  matter  of  mental  autonomy.  If  I 
see  a  friend  getting  five  dollars'  worth  of  pleasure 
out  of  Siegfried  or  a  league  game,  I  may  learn  to 
covet  his  source  of  happiness,  may  catch  the  con- 
tagion; but  not  because  of  any  effort  he  makes  to 
persuade  me.  People  who  whole-heartedly  enjoy 
their  children  or  their  tobacco  never  seem  concerned 
to  convert  bachelors  or  non-smokers.  Genuine  de- 
li irl it  never  worries  about  influencing  other  people; 
jei  it  is  making  converts  all  the  time.  The  English 
Leaflet  13  contains  a  whole  gospel  of  "inspiring" 
in  one  sentence:  "I  remember  a  very  poor  teacher 
of  literature  who  lived  in  an  atmosphere  so  sincere, 
so  generous,  so  humanly  sympathetic  that  her  pupils 
left  her  enriched  and  strengthened  for  actual  liv- 
ing." Somehow  I  suspect  that  this  woman  never 
coached  herself  to  inculcate  a  love.  It  is  likely  that 
she  simply  tried  to  be  honest  and  thorough  in  her 
<laily  business. 

How  responsive  have  you  been  to  those  intellect- 
ual missionaries  who  have  tried  to  kindle  in  you 
some  appreciation  of  their  gospels  of  physics  or 
astronomy?  Has  your  soul  been  roused  to  appre- 
hend the  culture  offered  by  modern  science,  or  do 
you  merely  tolerate  it  in  a  benignant  way?  Have 
you  thoroughly  realized  that  there  is  a  mental  ex- 
hilaration in  radium  and  Peruvian  ruins  and  wire- 
less and  the  fight  against  cancer  beside  which  // 
Pcnseroso  is  feeble!  Three  years  ago  a  boy  who 
was  not  very  keen  for  Milton's  minor  poems  intro- 
duoed  me  to  a  science  book  which  had,  if  rightly 


224  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

read,  more  stimulus  for  the  imagination  than  most 
of  ns  can  get  from  Paradise  Lost.  Literature  is  not 
the  only  treasure  on  that  strand  where  Newton  and 
Browning  have  to  be  met  together  if  they  are  rightly 
met.  Goethe,  whose  emotions  could  be  so  profoundly 
stirred  by  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  occupied  his  soul 
with  the  theory  of  light.  May  a  teacher  of  literature 
not  be  in  danger  of  assuming  that  the  right  kind  of 
spirit  is  absorbed  too  exclusively  in  Intimations  of 

I  Immortality?  of  forgetting  that  the  literature  string 

(  is  not  the  strongest  in  the  human  harp? 

But  granting  the  full  worth  of  this  desire  to  en- 
lighten, it  must  be  ever  borne  in  mind  that  no  art  is 
so  difficult  as  converting.  Billy  Sunday  has  a  gift 
that  converts  thousands;  Bunyan  and  King  David 
could  hardly  save  "themselves.  One  professor  has 
the  knack  of  turning  thousands  of  young  men  into 
the  paths  of  good  reading;  another  can  only  feel 
that  stony-ground  agriculture  will  not  pay  in  the 
long  run.  Imprudent  and  unsympathetic  zeal  may 
do  incalculable  harm.  The  instant  you  step  out  of 
J  your  own  personality  in  an  attempt  "to  inspire  a 

Hove  of  good  reading' '  you  wrong  yourself  and  the 
class.  You  may  get  a  galvanic  result — some  reaction 
that  is  jerkily  strong — but  you  will  set  up  no  steady 
current.    You  may  plant  seed,  may  add  fertilizer; 

-  but  God  alone  can  give  the  increase.  Thank  Him 
for  it  if  you  find  He  has  given  you  the  gift.  Don't 
get  melancholy  if  you  find  yourself  unendowed. 
English  literature  has  propagating  powers  of  its 
own.  They  tell  me  that  nowadays  great  reliance  is 
put  in  medical  missionaries,  men  who  do  not  directly 
aim  at  soul-saving,  but  who  lay  splendid  founda- 
tions.   If  we  unfortunate  teachers,  of  lesser  talents, 


WADING  m 

will  minister  to  the  mere  information  of  the  harba- 
-.  we  can  feel  that  we  accomplish  something. 
To  !><•  genuine,  !<>  be  frank,  never  to  allow  that 
taint  of  hypocrisy  t<»  enter  into  what  wo  say,  will 
insure  against  evil  effects  and  never  detract  from 
good  work.  Few  persons  can  be  perfectly  frank 
with  themselves  in  this  matter,  much  less  with 
others.  In  this  very  chapter,  for  example,  after  all 
my  revising,  all  abandoning  of  hedging  statements, 
there  is  an  irreducible  element  of  pretense  and  hum- 
Iuilt.  One  dreads  to  appear  a  cold,  denying  spirit; 
would  like  to  echo  what  is  so  conventionally  warm 
And  humane;  is  forever  tempted  to  deceive  himself 
by  imputing  to  himself  motives  which  it  is  generally 
supposed  he  ought  to  have.  I  speak  of  this  because, 
knowing  that  I  am  not  an  exceptional  being,  I  must 
suppose  that  others  in  their  publicly  expressed  opin- 
ion >  and  ail  vice  have  had  a  little  of  my  weakness. 
And  I  think  it  may  put  heart  into  some  first-year 
Worker  if  1  give  him  this  hope  that  he  is  not  such  a 

miserable  failure  after  all.  I  am  sure  that  in  my  own 
Brat  years  such  a  word  would  not  have  lessened  my 
earnestness,  and  would  have  been  a  real  source  of 
i  fulness.  You  can  do  better  when  you  are 
cheerful 

Sou  have  noticed  thai  there  are  persons  to  whom 
babies  will  always  go  and  persons  who  are  the  life 
of  a  party.  The  most  crafty  scheming  will  not  lure 
the  little  onos,  nor  t he  most  eager  determination  add 
party's  merriment  Bui  patient  study  of  bait 
and  pools  may  enable  you  to  gel  a  little  nearer  to 
the  record  of  that  feDon  who  alw.i  the  biggest 

h   of   fish.      Think   of   these   cases   when   yon    -it 
iv  a  ela->. 


226  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

The  English  Journal  reported  three  years  awe- 
some very  interesting  data  that  were  collected  in 
Illinois  and  elsewhere.  "What  do  pnpils  enjoy?" 
was  answered  from  hundreds  of  reports  of  class 
votes  on  the  books  read  in  school.  The  question- 
naire was  prompted  by  the  feeling  that  we  ought  to 
prescribe  what  pupils  like,  or  at  least  that  we  ought 
not  to  prescribe  what  they  very  generally  dislike. 
The  same  tendency  has  been  apparent  in  the  changes 
of  college-entrance  lists.  Lycidas  was  dropped,  and 
substitutes  offered  for  Burke  's  speech  and  Carlyle  's 
Essay  on  Burns.  It  has  been  contended  that  this  is 
false  pedagogy;  that  making  things  easy  is  a  way 
of  making  intellects  flabby.  Perfectly  true  of 
the  ordinary  subjects,  whose  merit  is  that  they  are 
hard.  But  Lycidas  was  not  written  to  offer  difficul- 
ties; Johnson  disliked  it  because  it  was  easy.  All 
literature  was  designed  to  give  pleasure.  If  it  is 
made  an  instrument  of  mental  drill,  it  is — offer  what 
other  defense  you  may — being  perverted  from  its 
function.  That  is  the  kernel  of  the  whole  discussion. 
May  it  not  be  abnormal  and  wrong  to  try  to  teach  a 
love  of  literature  1 
Examine  yourself,  for  doing  that  honestly  is  the 
i  only  way  to  find  out  about  the  other  fellow.  What 
Aauthor  were  you  ever  "taught"  to  love?  The  man 
who  could  teach  me  to  love  Sesame  and  Lilies 
doesn't  live.  What  percentage  of  teachers  could 
persuade  you  to  love  The  Idler  or  The  Alchemist  or 
The  TasM  Suppose  that  you  are  a  great  admirer 
of  Night  Thoughts,  what  proportion  of  a  hundred 
teachers  sitting  at  your  feet  could  you  convert  to 
your  admiration?  Ninety-nine  would  like  the  Dedi- 
cation of  Barrack-room  Ballads,  but  that  would  be 


i;  HADING  227 

dm  to  youl  Suppose  that  Mrs.  Tingley  took  the 
chair  and  hy  her  personal  magnetism  inspired  ten 
to  love  theosophy  :  should  ymi  think  well  of  the  con- 
verts or  long  to  emulate  tin*  converter!    If  you  are 

in  a  literature  class,  which  kiwi  of  force  do  you  wish 
operant  upon  yourself,  that  of  Mrs.  Tingley  or  that 

of  the  lf>  '/trillion/ 

The  comparison  ought  not  to  be  pushed.  It  is 
unfair  and  scornful.      N  r  it   may  be  objects! 

that  we  arc  quibbling  about  a  definition;  that  skill 
in  giving  literature  its  opportunity  to  charm  may  be 
all  that  is  meant  by  u inculcating  a  low."    Yet  we 
surely  are  discussing  something  immensely  more 
important  than  a  definition.     We  arc  speaking  of  a 
stimulus,  often  a  strong  one,  that  some  teachers  give. 
it  in  other  subjects.     One  teacher  has  in- 
spired   many    pupils   with   a  devotion  to   algebra; 
doubtless  another  has  imparted  an  interest  in  Latin; 
linly  the  right  teaching  of  physics  or  geography 
D  rouses  enthusiasm.    The  work  of  ministers  is 
more  than  an  analogy:  some  of  them  are  able  to 
inspire  a  love  of  religion. 

Bere  is  the  point,  then,  where  I  am  expected  to 
smash  comparisons  with  a  logical  battering-ram.  I 
have  not  the  mental  strength.  It  appears  to  me  that 
we  are  all  alike;    thai   the  highest   function  of  all 

•  all  decent  citizens  in 
i>  to  in-pire  somebody  with  a  love  of  something.  Ij 
am  S  riting  this  chapter  Just  because  1  cannot  see  why 
English  teachers  should  think  themselves  specially 
missioned  to  shed  sweetness  and  tight  on  an 
rwise  dark  and  tasteless  curriculum.  We  do  80 
distinguish  ourselves.  College  catalogues  speak  of 
"developing  a  taste  for  good  literature"  when  they 


228  "WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

describe  English  courses,  whereas  announcements 
of  music  or  history  or  art  speak  only  of  such  unspir- 
itual  matters  as  knowledge  or  proficiency.  The  file  of 
Leaflets  is  pied  with  such  gorgeous  claims  for  good 
English  teaching  as:  "spiritual  enlarging  and 
kindling,,,  "insight  into  character",  "inculcation 
of  a  love  of  books",  "affection  that  springs  from 
delight."  Did  you  ever  see  in  discussions  of  other 
branches  any  parallel  to  these  ecstasies? 

May  we  not  properly  apply  a  little  skepticism  to  a 
creed  containing  these  extraordinary  articles,  and 
scrutinize  the  evidence?  Grajn^_Jhat_tlnsj^wjer 
of  ^inspiring  ^xists^whal  percentage  of  high-school 
teachers  have  it?  Half  ofthemf  Make  a  list  of 
those  you  know,  putting  a  check  after  the  names  of 
the  inspirers.  But  perhaps  this  is  unreasonable.  It 
may  be  fair  to  maintain  that  every  teacher  has  some 
spark  of  the  kindling  power,  and  that  in  his  work 

7  he  ought  to  apply  it  to  combustible  minds.  There  is 
the  real  issue :  Should  all  teachers  have  for  an  object 
what  few  can  fully  attain  ?  One  of  us  ordinary  per- 
sons, with  some  skill  in  simple  matters  of  knowledge 
or  clearness,  can  guide  a  class  to  a  reasonable  under- 
standing of  a  book;  if  we  are  in  a  fine  (and  arti- 
ficial) frenzy  of  making-them-love-it,  much  of  our 
work  is  vitiated ;  the  total  effect  of  a  recitation  may 
be  a  lesson  in  insincerity.  Especially  is  this  true  of 
women  teaching  boys,  because  the  roughest  boy  is  a 
delicate  galvanometer  for  detecting  affectation. 

How  frank  and  deep-rooted  is  this  love  of  litera- 
ture which  we  are  so  conscious  of,  which  we  talk  and 
write  about  so  much?  It  has  always  appeared  to  me 
that  the  non-musical  person  who  has  trained  himself 
to  enjoy  sonatas  is  the  one  who  declaims  most  about 


READING  229 

loving  music  (and  Leaves  me  cold);  while  one  who 
in  his  soul  will  rap  my  clumsy  fingers — 
tad  idndk  me.    Aren't  we  English  teachers  in  dan- 
:•  of  appearing  to  be  sentimental  enticers  if  in  our 
b  of  steamships  we  play  the  pari  of  nrena  on 
Literature  straits? 
Only  three  years  ago  that  question  would  have 
d  oonsidered  blasphemous,    Now  you  may  hear 
affirmative  answers  on  all  sides.    I  subjoin  throe 
s  from  the  English  Journal  tor  1915.    The 
tii  M  describes  the  danger;  the  second  and  third  are 
different  ways  of  facing  it. 
(1)     A    third    misconception    regarding   English 
work  is  that  it  is  the  mission  of  the  teacher  of  Eng- 
lish U)  gel  pupils  to  admire  greatly  a  small  list  of 
works  of  good  literature  of  a  particular  type,  and 
thai  when  they  do  not  specially  care  for  these  books 
the  work  is  largely  a  failure.    But  human  life  has  a 
wide  diversity  of  feelings  and  interests,  it  is  em- 
bodied  in  personalities  of  every  kind  and  type.    If 
literature  La  an  expression  of  human  life,  or  if  liter- 
ature is  an  appeal  to  human  life,  it  must  be  as  varied 
as  the  life  of  which  it  is  the  expression  or  to  which 
it  makes  appeal     If  a  certain  type  of  literature  does 
not  appeal  to  a  pupil,  it  may  be  simply  because  the 
outlook  of  his  mind  on  life  givefl  it  a  range  of  intcr- 
trieh  that  literature  does  not  satisfy. 
Not  lorn:  ago  1  had  a  conversation  with  a  friend, 
ian  who  has  some  position  and  reputation  as  an 

educator,  and  in  reply  I  enthusiastic  wordi 

ae  on  the  value  and  significance  of  poetry,  he  said  i 
M  1  cannot  brill  If  to  care  much  for  poetry.    1 

not  sec  why  a  man  should  care  to  read  such  stuff 
when  he  can  read  something  worth  while  on  as  int 


i 


230  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

esting  a  subject  as  evolution.' '  Much  of  what  the 
teacher  presses  upon  the  pupil's  notice  as  the  most 
valuable  literature  this  man  rejected  as  mere  stuff; 
and  yet  he  was  regarded  as  a  man  of  much  intel- 
lectual ability.  We  need  to  remember  that  a  pupil 
who  in  spite  of  all  our  efforts  thinks  that  The  Sketch 
Book  is  dull,  and  Evangeline  silly,  and  Ivanhoe  slow 
and  uninteresting  may  still  cherish  some  valuable 
intellectual  interests.  _Roiand  8.  Keyser, 

Jamaica  Training  School  for  Teachers. 

(2)  We  teachers  of  literature  find  ourselves  in  a 
different  position  from  our  colleagues.  We  speak  of 
literature  as  primarily  a_  thmg_kLhe_£i2^ai^L.  jQiher 
departments  treat  their  subjects  as  primarily  things 
to  be  leaxned.  We  expect  our  pupils  to  be  interested 
and  delighted,  from  the  outset  of  their  work,  and  all 
the  way  along.  Our  colleagues  ask  their  pupils  to 
work  and  learn,  and,  if  they  hold  out  any  hope  of 
pleasure,  it  is,  "You'll  like  it  better  when  you  come 
to  understand  it;  it  will  be  interesting  when  you  get 
farther  into  it."  We  have  got  our  problem  clouded. 
We  know  well  enough,  we  teachers  of  English,  that 
we  have  ourselves  had  to  do  real  work  to  come  by 
some  of  our  interests.  And  we  know,  too,  that  some 
fields  of  literature,  some  books,  some  authors,  will 
never  interest  us.  We  don't  see  our  task  clearly,  as 
the  teacher  of  mathematics  sees  his.  He  says  to  his 
pupils,  "Here  is  a  piece  of  work  to  be  done."  He 
is  not  likely  to  say  anything  about  interest  or  pleas- 
ure. If  the  pupil  does  the  work,  and  enjoys  it,  so 
much  the  better.  But  pleasure  is  not  held  out  as  a 
bait.  There  is  no  cajolery  about  it.  Now  the  danger 
about  cajolery  is  that,  though  it  works  well  enough 


READ]  2:u 

when  it  succeeds,  it  is  worse  than  nothing  when  it 
fails.  Unsuccessful  cajolery  reacts  against 
author  like  an  unsuccessful  lie.  And  lying  is  ■  diffi- 
cult business,  Hamlet's  remark  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding. 
Now  many  of  our  indirect  attempts  to  arouse  in- 
est  and  pleasure  react  against  our  influence 
because  they  fail  in  this  way.  What  wonder  that 
the  pupil  comes  to  disregard  our  judgment,  question 
our  intellectual  weight,  distrust  our  sincerity?  Such 
a  lock  is  to  be  read  "  tor  pleasure."  The  pupil  finds 
it  dull,  even  though  it  be  a  great  novel,  like  Henry 
iiond.  ]!<•  has  been  misguided;  he  has  been 
told  of  an  intellectual  garden  of  bliss,  and,  lo,  he 
Bads  no  such  place,  only  a  waste  of  stones  and 
ashes. 

Why  not  assume  a  different  attitude?  Why  not 
say,  rather:  Here  are  some  typical  books  of  various 
kinds.  They  are  chosen  because  they  have  been 
approved,  not  only  by  those  who  make  courses  of 
study,  hut  by  generations  of  those  who  know,  and 
like,  and  even  those  who  write,  books.  They  arc  an 
important  part  of  the  intellectual  property  of  the 
race  to  which  it  is  your  fortune,  good  or  bad,  to  be- 
long. You  arc  expected  to  know  them,  and  others 
like  them,  if  you  are  to  become  educated — even  mod- 
erately educated  They  are  as  much  an  established 
part  of  your  educational  obligations  as  science,  his- 
tory, mathematics  arc  in  your  present  grade,  or  as 
arithni'  phy.   and    Bpelling   were    in    your 

Ymu  are  expected  to  know  them  for 
reasons  of  abort  the  Bane  sort  that  you  are  expected 
Iress  neatly,  to  speak  clearly,  to  I  od  man 

rS,  and  to  obey  the  moral   I  OUT  I'd- 


232  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

low-men  demand  it  of  those  who  qualify  for  a  certain 

stratum  of  social  life.  ,-,       7  7 .     m   ^  7 

— Franklin  T.  Baker, 

Teachers  College,  Columbia  University. 

(3)  Sometimes  the  high-school  course  works  as 
a  sort  of  vaccination  to  prevent  their  ever  taking 
literature  seriously.  Indeed,  many  of  our  graduates 
emerge  triumphantly  diploma-ed,  with  their  old  un- 
trammeled  originality  in  spelling  and  sentence  struc- 
ture, but  with  a  new  relief  in  their  hearts  that  they 
have  lived  through  "litercher"  and  may  hereafter 
read  what  they  please.  And  the  public,  which  de- 
votes about  99  per  cent  of  its  influence  to  bringing 
about  this  very  result,  does  occasionally  use  the 
remaining  1  per  cent  in  sternly  demanding  to  know 
why  English  teachers  don't  teach  English  and  de- 
velop a  taste  for  real  " liter achoor."  (It  will  be 
noticed  that  the  amount  of  emphasis  on  the  final 
syllable  is  an  index  to  the  speaker's  seriousness.) 

The  truth  is  that  literature  teachers  are  devoted 
champions  of  a  lost  cause.  To  change  the  figure, 
they  are  swimmers  battling  against  an  ever- 
strengthening  current  of  seething  modernity.  To- 
day it  is  harder  than  it  was  even  ten  years  ago  to 
arouse  any  sympathetic  interest  in  Milton,  for  in- 
stance. Some  of  the  dead  authors  appear  to  be  so 
irrevocably  dead  that  no  amount  of  artificial  respi- 
ration can  put  any  breath  of  life  into  their  works, 
so  far  as  the  ordinary  high-school  student  is  con- 
cerned. 

#     #     #     # 

From  my  previous  experience  with  separate 
classics  I  had  discovered  that  many  students  feel 
vaguely  that  these  old  books  are  forced  upon  them 


READING  233 

by  an  educational  conspiracy.    They  do  not  beli< 

a  moment  that  any  normal  person  would  1'reely 
choose  Shakespeare's  plays  and  the  Spectator  essays 
when  reading  for  his  own  enjoyment.  They  do  not 
formula tt*  their  suspicions,  but  they  might  put  them 
tli us:  "In  the  undated  past  a  group  of  old  fogies 
]>ut  their  noddies  together  and  agreed  that  certain 
musty,  fusty  volumes  should  be  called  classics,  and 
that  every  unfortunate  youngster  should  finish  his 
quota  of  this  moldy  diet  before  being  allowed  any 

I  literary  food  or  candy.  Since  then,  whenever 
a  board  engages  a  teacher,  it  makes  her  solemnly 

ear  to  pretend  that  she  and  everybody  else  prefer 
the  classics  to  all  modern  literature.  And  so  the 
teachers  don't  dare  to  admit  their  liking  for  living 
authors,  but  have  to  earn  their  salaries  by  going  into 
datives  over  Shakespeare  and  Addison  and  the 
other  dead  ones.  The  more  a  teacher  praises  a 
thing,  the  less  good  it  is,  just  to  read;  she  has  to 
l»raise  it  to  keep  her  job  and  prove  what  a  great 

olar  she  is.  The  thing  for  a  student  to  do  is  to 
keep  his  mouth  shut  about  not  liking  a  classic,  and 
just  learn  what  the  teacher  wants  him  to  say;  for 
she  would  fail  him  if  she  knew  what  he  really 
thought" 

There  is  also  a  prejudice  against  the  biography 
of  authors  as  being  a  useless  and  inexpressibly  tire- 
some hodge-podge  of  names  and  dates.  A  student's 
impression  of  a  composite  author's  biography  would 

d  something  like  this:  "So-and-so  was  born  in 
an  unpronounc  inspellable  place  that  nobody 

ever  heard  of ;  his  parents,  though  poor  and  appar- 
ently  insignificant,  were  people  of  great  interest  tn 
lit.  r.itmv.     He  was  not  on  good  terms   with   his 


234  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

teachers  because  he  preferred  his  own  choice  of 
studies  and  occupations  to  theirs ;  and  his  fame  later 
on  showed  how  much  better  he  knew  what  he  needed 
than  they  did.  By-and-by  he  married  a  woman  who 
either  made  him  superlatively  happy  and  successful, 
or  else  broke  his  heart  and  crippled  his  genius.  His 
early  writings  were  attacked  by  school  teachers  and 
other  moss-backed  critics,  but  he  won  fame  by  touch- 
ing the  great  heart  of  the  common  people ;  or  else  his 
work  was  very  popular  in  his  own  day,  but  nobody 
can  see  anything  in  it  now.  All  his  life  was  spent  in 
places  hard  to  remember,  doing  things  with  dates 
nailed  to  them;  and  he  finally  died  and  was  buried 
in  another  place  that  the  teacher  makes  everybody 
learn.    Whgtofitt" 

TS"  T5»  "VP  TP 

In  addition  to  these  prejudices  against  old  books, 
against  biography,  history,  and  the  essay,  there  is 
also  a  well-marked  distrust  of  poetry,  especially  on 
the  part  of  boys.  The  number  of  high-school  stu- 
dents who  voluntarily  read  anything  more  than  hu- 
morous or  topical  verse  is  small  indeed.  Many  boys 
have  an  ingrained  dislike  of  poetry,  because  some 
teacher  has  overdone  allegories,  or  figures  of  speech, 
or  " speaking  pieces,"  to  use  the  old  term.  Besides, 
many  boys  at  the  adolescent  age  manifest  a  fierce 
shyness,  an  utter  revolt  against  the  expression  of 
emotions.  Some  poetry  strips  the  soul  stark-naked 
by  its  intensity  of  feeling.  Imagine  the  difficulties  of 
teaching  it  to  self-conscious  boys  and  girls.  The 
high-school  student  is  just  at  the  age  of  most  pain- 
ful sensitiveness:  it  is  astonishing  to  learn  what 
trifles  cause  real  suffering.  Even  skilful  and  kindly 
teachers  frequently  jab  bare  nerve  ends  without  the 


READING  235 

1. 1  in  test  idea  that  they  are  doing  so.  Bold  and  self- 
assured  as  some  of  the  lads  look,  they  secretly  writhe 
under  many  forms  of  embarrassment.  The  study 
of  literature,  and,  most  of  all,  the  study  of  poetry,  is 
the  very  thing  they  need  to  free  and  broaden  their 
sense  of  personality,  to  develop  and  guide  their  emo- 
tions. But  unless  they  can  be  made  to  feel  at  home 
in  what  they  read,  it  is  worse  than  useless  to  them. 


Another  very  common  difficulty  is  the  fact  that 
many  children  early  form  the  dreadful  habit  of  read- 
ing without  visualizing.  Their  imaginations  are 
atrophied,  so  far  as  the  power  of  reincarnating  a 
printed  page  is  concerned.  Some  actually  have 
almost  no  power  to  get  the  thought  of  a  poem,  a  bit 
of  description,  or  even  a  drama,  until  it  is  read  aloud 
and  discussed  in  class.  To  translate  words  into 
I  ures,  statues,  perfumes,  music,  or  human  reality 
of  any  kind  is  almost  beyond  their  power.  The 
teacher  has  to  give  them  constant  training  to  develop 

their  imagination. 

•     •     •     • 

Pondering  over  these  prejudices  and  limitations 
of  the  average  high-school  student,  I  decided  that 
absolute  sincerity  and  cooperation  should  be  the  two 
guiding  principles  of  my  work  with  my  literature 
classes.  My  first  step  was  to  take  my  students  into 
my  confidence,  get  acquainted  with  them,  and  make 
them  realize  that  I  was  deeply  interested  in  their 
real  opinions  and  would  never  penalize  them  for  tell- 
ing the  truth.  Knowing  that  students  love  to  experi 
ment,  and  to  do  things  in  a  grown-up  way,  I  told 
them  how  the  course  in  English  literature  was  usu- 


236  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

ally  taught,  and  how  we  were  trying  to  improve  the 
method.  I  made  it  clear  that  my  purpose  was  to 
teach  them  how  to  know  literature,  how  to  read  and 
judge  it;  and  that  their  likes  and  dislikes  were  en- 
tirely  their  own  affair.  From  the  beginning  to  the 
end  I  tried  to  make  them  feel  that  everybody's  busi- 
ness was  to  help  everybody  else  without  interfering 
with  his  personal  rights,  and  that  I  would  hold  sa- 
credly confidential  anything  that  they  told  me  upon 
that  agreement,  or  anything  which  they  asked  me 
not  to  share  with  the  class. 

Day  by  day  in  informal  conversations,  I  gradually 
led  them  to  tell  me  what  they  thought  a  course  in 
English  literature  ought  to  be,  what  kinds  of  train- 
ing they  needed  most,  what  are  the  big  problems  in 
studying  literature.  If  I  had  expounded  these  ideas 
to  them,  they  would  have  rejected  them  as  part  of 
the  traditional  stuff  that  teachers  are  paid  to  cram 
down  the  student's  throat.  But  when  they  discov- 
ered problems  for  themselves,  their  whole  attitude 
toward  literature  began  to  change.  For  instance, 
they  began  with  a  vague  idea  that  the  materials  for 
such  a  course  should  all  be  chosen  upon  the  basis  of 
j  enjoyment.  But  when  they  had  heard  the  various 
I  contradictory  opinions  in  a  single  class  about  a  bit 
of  literature,  they  saw  at  once  that  no  choice  could 
be  made  that  would  please  everybody;  and  they  lost 
confidence  also  in  the  old  idea  that  only  teachers  like 
certain  things.  Then  they  decided  that  it  would  be 
wisest  to  study  all  the  " great' '  things. 

It  took  me  about  two  weeks  to  make  my  students 
feel  that  it  was  safe  to  tell  me  what  they  really 
thought,  and  that  I  was  not  trying  to  make  every- 
body agree  with  me.    No  matter  how  rash  and  preju- 


READING  237 

diced  an  opinion  was,  I  received  it  seriously,  pointed 
out  and  had  the  class  point  out  the  grain  of  truth  in 
it,  and  then  l»y  questioning  the  student  and  others 
tried  to  make  them  carry  the  idea  farther.  As  soon 
as  I  felt  sure  that  they  trusted  my  sincerity  and 
would  express  themselves  freely  to  me,  I  had  them 
write  answers  to  a  questionnaire. 

•  •     •     • 

The  students  were  so  interested  in  the  idea  of  help- 
ing me  fit  the  course  to  their  needs  that  they  wrote 
from  two  to  six  pages  of  definite  information  on 
these  questions.  This  set  of  pages  was  the  most 
interesting  set  I  ever  read  because  of  their  frank 
revelation  of  the  minds  of  the  writers.  They  formed 
a  very  valuable  index  to  the  hundred  and  forty  new 
personalities  in  my  charge.  I  tabulated  on  cards  the 
gist  of  each  answer,  and  for  some  time  continued 
to  add  discoveries,  and  to  consult  these  personality 
cards  whenever  I  wanted  to  wake  up  a  lagging  stu- 
dent or  assign  an  appropriate  piece  of  individual 
research  work.  The  teaching  of  literature  is  funda- 
mentally a  matter  of  interpreting  different  minds  to 
each  other ;  the  teacher  has  to  know  intimately  both 
the  book  and  the  student  before  she  can  bring  them 
together  successfully. 

•  •     •     • 

Since  I  laid  no  emphasis  upon  their  liking  the 
famous  pieces  of  literature,  but  instead  demanded 
thai  they  know  a  great  deal  about  it  and  have  full 
reasons  for  their  opinions,  it  was  no  longer  a  point 
of  honor  with  the  students  to  dislike  classics.  Some 
of  them  discovered  that  they  eoold  lean  nearly  as 
much  and  do  nearly  as  good  thinking  about  a  tiling 


238  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

they  disliked  as  about  a  thing  they  liked.  A  good 
many  of  them  learned  to  look  within  for  the  causes 
of  certain  opinions,  frankly  criticized  their  own  lack 
of  mental  energy,  imagination,  observation,  vocabu- 
lary, and  the  like,  and  set  about  improving  them- 
selves. They  gradually  learned  to  regard  anybody's 
opinion  about  any  piece  of  literature  as  a  mere  per- 
sonal symptom,  and  often  a  temporary  symptom  at 
that,  and  they  gained  interest  in  looking  for  the 
cause  of  the  opinion.  And  all  the  time  the  range  of 
their  enjoyment  broadened. 

— Elizabeth  Hodgson, 

High  School,  Wichita,  Kansas. 

In  all  our  thoughts  about  literature  it  is  well  to 
bear  in  mind  that  one  of  the  shrewdest  of  English 
critics  wrote  an  essay  entitled  ' '  Is  It  Possible  to  Tell 
a  Good  Book  from  a  Bad  One  ? ' '  His  conclusion  was 
that  it  is  not  possible.  But  it  is  always  easy  to  tell 
a  good  reader  from  a  bad  one.  The  bad  one  cannot 
visualize;  the  good  one  sees  gorgeous  tragedy  go 
sweeping  by. 

Have  no  thought  about  inspiration.  Prepaxe_y_pur- 
Vself  by  reading  the  assigned  book  over  and  over 
again.  It  is  astonishing  how  the  closest  familiarity 
that  you  can  get  by  yourself  is  inadequate  for  the 
searching  demands  sometimes  made  by  inquisitive 
youth.  You  will  find  the  average  pupil  strangely 
ignorant  of  those  essentials  that  impress  you  at  a 
first  cursory  reading ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  some 
small  non-essential,  that  you  quite  failed  to  notice, 
stands  out  in  his  mind  like  a  pinnacle.  Your  objec- 
tive is  a  clear  understanding  of  the  essentials,  as: 
Where  are  we?    Who  is  acting?    What  did  he  do? 


READING  239 

Why  did  he  do  it?  What  kind  of  person  was  he! 
What  did  character  number  two  think  about  number 
three!  Have  no  fear  of  the  most  simple  and  obvious 
questions.  Indeed  you  had  best  at  first  fear  any 
other  kind.  You  never  know  when  you  are  going  to 
uncover  the  most  remarkable  ignorance.  If  a  pupil 
misconceives,  don't  set  him  right.  Let  another  pupil 
dn  it.  Perhaps  the  first  one  has  an  unexpected  de- 
fense for  a  curious  notion.  You  never  can  tell.  Get 
then  to  debating.  Admit  no  evidence  of  the  "I 
think"  kind;  always  exact  the  reference  to  what  the 
author  says.  A  recitation  that  continues  for  ten 
minutes  as  prosy  as  a  bird-cage  may  unexpectedly 
open  into  fresh  air. 

For  secondary  classes  I  am  B  devotee  of  the  writ- 
ten test  at  the  beginning  of  the  recitation.  In  my 
first  year's  work  I  got  into  a  hopeless  bog  with  a  vol- 
ume of  poems.  The  class  seemed  to  know  less  every 
recitation.  The  simplest  outstanding  facts  escaped 
them.  One  day  I  announced  that  the  next  lesson 
would  be  a  very  short  review;  that  there  would  be  a 
five  minute  test  in  which  they  must  show  definite 
knowledge,  expressed  without  the  wriggling  and 
looking  for  help  that  made  oral  recitation  so  value- 
less; and  that  I  should  then  devote  the  rest  of  the 
hour  to  reading  aloud,  line  by  line,  with  comments 
and  questions.  I  was  not  thinking  of  the  test,  but  of 
the  chance  to  force  some  comprehension  into  their 
brains.  And  lo!  a  miracle.  They  studied  differently. 
ichow  that  thought  that  they  were  to  be  left  alone 
in  a  silent  t«st  period,  forced  to  show  that  they  knew 
•  tiling  or  nothing — that  made  a  difference.  What 
they  had  floundered  in  they  soon  learned  to  make  a 
path  through.     The  written  test  is  a  great  help 


240  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH  ? 

for  composition ;  it  leaves  the  teacher  more  time  for 
reading  aloud;  it  relieves  him  of  the  distraction  of 
keeping  a  record  of  oral  recitation.  But  more  than 
all  these  combined  is  the  training  it  gives  in  reading 
attentively.  The  same  principle  may  be  applied  if 
a  class  finds  any  text  hard  to  understand.  Allow 
five  minutes  or  so  for  a  careful  reading  of  a  page  in 
class,  announcing  that  at  the  end  of  the  time  you  will 
assign  a  topic  for  a  test.  When  attention  is  thus 
concentrated,  pupils  overcome  hard  passages  with 
an  ease  that  is  very  enlightening.  Explain  the  prin- 
ciple :  That  kind  of  concentration  on  each  page,  as  if 
for  a  test,  does  twice  as  much  in  half  the  time. 

Beware  of  that  pedagogic  weakness,  talking  too 
much.  What  we  say,  like  what  the  rhetoric  text  says, 
amounts  to  much  less  than  we  suppose.  Our  brain- 
capillaries  distend,  and  in  the  heat  we  may  speak 
well  and  impressively;  the  pupils'  brains  are  inert. 
It  is  often  impossible  to  avoid  taking  the  floor  our- 
selves, but  in  discussing  a  literature  lesson  it  is  well 
to  be  a  mere  moderator  as  far  as  one  can  without  bad 
waste  of  time.  Beading  aloud  is  apt  to  seem  waste 
of  precious  minutes — often  is ;  but  what  is  heard  is 
remembered  better  than  what  is  read.  So  long  as 
attention  is  alert  and  so  long  as  you  feel  real  pur- 
pose, time  thus  spent  is  valuable. 
/  It  is  with  diffidence  that  I  suggest  that  anything 
like  a  critical  attack  of  literature  is  a  mistake  in 
secondary  classes.  You  are  steeped  in  it.  For  some 
years  you  have  hardly  thought  of  a  play  but  as  an 
object  of  critical  appreciation.  Many  texts  are 
edited  in  an  atmosphere  that  reeks  with  the  fumes  of 
estimate  and  analysis;  edited  with  the  fear  of  not 
showing  enough  scholarly  acumen.    Even  such  rea- 


READING  241 

sonable  queries  as  "By  what  means  does  Goldsmith 
heighten  the  effect  of  the  discovery  that  the  house 

burning  fM  are  on  the  wrong  track.  Steer  thus: 
"Ho*  ,ii,i  the  Vic.u  feel  as  he  got  near  home?" 
'I 'his  is  not  the  difference  between  tweedledum  and 
t\\<  It  is  the  two  sides  of  the  footlights. 

The  class  belongs  in  the  audience.  A  normal  reader 
never  bothers  the  stage  door.  He  always  " likes  that 
l"or  wonders  why  Soandso  didn 't  tell.  We  have 
no  hu>in» nm  to  call  a  pupil's  attention  to  a  paste- 
board rock  or  to  an  elocutionary  trick  that  puts  a 
lump  in  our  throat.  We  have  no  right  to  suggest 
that  Goldsmith  threw  down  his  pen  at  this  point  and 
beat  his  head  and  paced  the  floor  before  he  got  the 
right  device.  Goldsmith  doesn't  belong  on  the  stage; 
the  Vicar  is  doing  very  well  alone.  At  least  reserve 
the  author  for  his  call  when  the  play  is  over. 

Annotations  are  sometimes  a  rock  of  offense  and 
sometimes  give  grateful  shade  in  a  weary  land.  It 
is  better  to  use  them  too  little  than  too  much.  Every 
note  is  good  that  keeps  a  pupil  from  misconceiving 
an  author's  general  purpose  in  a  passage;  every  one 
is  bad  that  distracts  from  that  purpose  or  that  su- 
peradds information.  If  you  are  studying  Macbeth 
fully,  it  may  be  barely  worth  while  to  explain 
that  the  "dollars"  were  not  paid  in  American  hills; 
t<»  explain  the  etymology  of  the  word  is  one  of  the 
most  freakish  crimes  of  pedantry.  A  comparison  of 
an  old  Rolfe  or  Deighton  edition  with  the  recent 
work  of  Neilson  or  Schelling  will  be  illuminating. 
Unless  you  are  doing  this  sort  of  close  study  notes 
should  not  be  kept  in  the  foreground  Have  little  to 
do  with  verbal  difficulties.  The  criterion  that  nearly 
always  appli.-  is:  "Will  this  make  the  picture  m 


242  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

clear?"  Hence  sketch-maps  are  often  most  useful. 
Not  that  it  matters  whether  a  certain  stag  escaped 
in  Fife  or  the  Hebrides,  but  that  Scott  had  a  map 
in  his  mind,  and  we  follow  his  story  with  more  inter- 
est if  we  have  some  idea  of  its  locus.  Anything  that 
supplies  a  substratum  of  conceptions  (like  "What 
was  a  cross-bow  ?  "  "  The  Holy  Grail ?"  "  The  French 
Bevolution?")  is  a  necessity.  Anything  else  is  likely 
to  be  a  hindrance.  The  Essay  on  Johnson  requires 
few 'notes.  The  Farewell  Address  will  not  show  its 
hidden  fires  (it  really  is  fiery)  until  a  reader  can 
think  of  many  conditions  in  our  early  history. 
~  More  valuable  than  class  work  will  be  any  reading 
you  can  require  or  encourage  as  supplementary,  not 
to  be  recited  on,  perhaps  not  even  to  be  tested.  One 
way  is  to  assign  a  novel,  giving  a  brief  test  on  a  hun- 
dred pages  or  more  each  week.  In  seven  minutes 
you  can  find  out  whether  a  pupil  has  read  attentively 
an  assignment  of  two  hundred  pages,  if  you  require 
answers  with  one  or  two  details  to  the  simplest,  most 
matter-of-fact  questions.  Avoid  the  type  of  question 
that  admits  a  hazy,  bluffing  answer;  give  no  credit 
for  a  reply  that  might  have  been  guessed  at  by  one 
who  had  merely  heard  a  friend  Js  outline  of  the  story. 
Another  plan  is  to  require  reports  on  books  selected 
by  the  pupil  (his  choice  to  be  first  approved  by  the 
teacher).  Get  pupils  to  sample  books  for  you,  and 
so  build  up  a  list  of  good  ones  that  are  generally 
liked.  It  is  hard  to  judge  by  your  own  taste.  I 
should  have  guessed  that  sixteen-year-old  boys  would 
like  Kim  and  would  find  Lorna  Doone  too  sentimen- 
tal, but  the  opposite  is  usually  the  case.  There  can 
be  a  system  of  extra  credit  for  books  read  volun- 
tarily. One  teacher  in  a  private  school  tells  me  that  he 


READING  243 

now  gets  several  times  as  much  reading  done  by  this 
"supplementary"  plan  as  he  did  two  years  ago  in 
Ufl  "dark  ages."  This  kind  is  the  real  kind.  Dis- 
section in  class  is  less  thought  of  than  formerly — a 
statement  sufficiently  meaty  for  the  end  of  a  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XI 

ODDS  AND  ENDS 
EHETOBIC 

Some  textbook  in  Rhetoric  is  prescribed  for  you. 
Regard  it  as  the  foundation  of  all  your  work.  Though 
you  disapprove  some  parts,  dislike  some  peculiari- 

^  ties,  it  must  be  the  basis  of  all  you  can  accomplish. 
It  marks  out  where  you  are  to  build  and  indicates 
the  kind  of  structure  you  are  to  raise.  Follow  the 
specifications  until  experience  shows  you  where  to 
vary  the  prescribed  plan.  The  text  presents  a  diver- 
sified lot  of  things  as  of  about  the  same  importance ; 
your  task  is  to  discover  which  topics  are  minor  and 
which  are  major.  And  remember  that  the  text  alone, 
be  it  mastered  never  so  thoroughly  by  the  class,  ac- 
complishes almost  nothing.  The  principal  error  that 
we  all  make,  and  can  never  entirely  get  over,  is  reli- 

-  ance  on  the  efficacy  of  the  text.  Teachers  are  all 
keyed  up  to  rhetorical  distinctions,  so  that  when  they 
are  struck  by  anything  the  least  novel  they  perceive 
it  with  excited  attention.  Again,  a  lucid  presenta- 
tion of  familiar  notions  seems  to  them  convincing; 
what  it  stows  in  their  minds  is  lively  and  operative. 
Youth  is  not  so  affected.  After  ten — yes,  after 
twenty — years  a  teacher  still  suffers  the  same  dis- 

.  mayed  amazement  at  finding  that  what  was  under- 
stood clearly  and  recited  upon  accurately  is  not 
doing  any  work.  The  matter  of  shall  and  will  fur- 
nishes   an    illustration.     A    boy    who    apprehends 

244 


ODDS  AND  BNDG  MB 

clearly,  as  a  theory,  when  to  Nty  ••  1  >hall"  and  when 
uy  ••!  will"  may  the  Q«xl  week  wear  a  question- 
ing frown  over  the  X  through  his  "will"  in  a  ftome 
>  the  same  old,  Qnendiiig  difficulty.    It  is  a  truth 
1 1  eqaentry  harped  upon  in  these  pages.    It  is  a  lesson 
for  you.    Constant  repetition  should  teach  you.    It 
will  do  nothing  of  the  sort.    You  will  never  know  it 
till  you  have  been  through  the  exercises.     A  pupil 
will  never  know  about  shall  until  by  repeated  and 
repeated  and  repeated  exercises  his  own  work  has 
made  it  a  part  of  himself.    A  boy  from  an  excep- 
tionally refined  home,  whose  own  speech  was  refined, 
once  recited  passably  on  this  mystery  of  shall  and 
will.    On  the  exercise  in  the  text  (filling  in  blanks) 
i^ot  zero.    The  class  returned  to  the  exercise,  and 
he  got  zero.    A  week  later  he  got  30%  on  that  iden- 
1  exercise. 

Nay  more.  The  teacher  had  omitted  all  entan- 
glements of  "the  form  you  expect  in  the  answer," 
and  all  the  rest  of  it.  He  was  trying  for  nothing 
more  ambitious  than  to  cultivate  the  habit  of  "I 
-hall"  and  "we  shall"  when  no  assurance  is  im- 
plied. (Schools  cannot  establish  a  complicated 
of  idioms,  and  ought  not  to  try.)  This  simplest  of 
simple  changes  in  a  fixed  verbal  habit  is  the  moving 
of  a  mountain.  To  get  the  merest  temporary  result  b, 
as  a  mere  drill,  is  an  achievement. 

The  text  is  a  necessary  foundation;  it  is  not  a 
-tincture  of  knowledge,  however  lively  and  sympa- 
thetic. And  any  part  that  is  not  sympathetic  is  not 
n  a  foundation.  What  is  conceived  in  the  spirit 
of  critical  abstraction  makes  no  impression  on  a 
pupil's  mind.  Even  the  most  lively  and  per 
chapter  of  text  can  do  no  more  than  open  the  way  to 


246  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

improvement  of  style.  All  advance  upon  that  way 
is  a  matter  of  practice ;  no  real  progress  can  be  made 
except  by  the  use  of  exercises.  Real  development 
and  lasting  improvement  are  secured  only  by  exer- 
cises. In  proportion  as  you  gain  experience  you  will 
hunger  for  exercises,  will. regard  text  as  a  mere  index 
to  the  real  work,  will  rely  for  permanent  results  on 
the  actual  handling  of  a  great  deal  of  illustrative 
N  material.  The  rhetoric  that  seems  to  me  the  most 
effective  one  on  the  market  (Herric^and  Damon) 
succeeds  largely  because  of  copious  exercises  based 
on  entertaining  selections. 

Every  year  I  try  harder  to  find  out  when  we  take 
up  a  rhetoric  topic  how  far  back  the  ignorance 
reaches.  One  example  will  serve  for  all.  "Figures 
of  speech' '  are  promptly  attacked  on  the  basis  of 
"Is  it  good  or  bad! "  For  several  years  I  was  con- 
founded by  the  excessive  stupidity  displayed.  Bright 
boys  were  declaring  that  it  was  "bad"  to  compare 
martyrs  to  watering  pots,  and  failing  to  object  to 
"The  cold  hand  of  Death  stalked  into  our  midst.' ' 
I  had  to  grant  a  certain  good  taste  to  their  verdicts : 
separated  from  context  the  good  metaphor  may  be 
ridiculous,  while  the  bad  one  may  have  a  suggestion 
of  tragic  dignity.  What  was  wrong?  Why  must  I 
always  be  overruling  sensible  boys'  feelings?  Be- 
cause they  did  not  know  the  simple,  fundamental 
truth  that  a  figure  is  a  comparison  of  something  with 
something,  that  genius  can  contrive  a  fairly  fitting 
comparison  of  anything  in  the  universe  with  any- 
thing else  in  the  universe,  but  only  a  rare  genius 
under  exceptional  circumstances  is  allowed  to  com- 
pare that  anything  with  two  anythings  at  the  same 
time.   I  have  never  been  able  to  persuade  them  about 


ODDS   AM)    BNDS  247 

the  watt  ring  pots;  the  best  1  oan  <lo  is  to  compron. 
on:  "What  is  oompared  t<>  whatf    Is  it  compared 

wo  whats  at  the  same  timet " 
You  are  marveling  at  my  slowness  of  apprehen 
i,  at  my  lack  of  sympathy.     Then  you  get  the 
at — that  utter  failure  to  detect  underlying  igno- 
rance.   I  can  hardly  believe  it  of  myself  as  I  spr« 
it  on  the  record.    May  it  save  you  from  any  similar 
i  a  dure  to  get  way  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  trouble. 
A  wh.de  class  is  never  stupid;  once  in  a  while  a 
ier  may  be. 
The  dean  of  college  theme-writing  in  America  says 
that  he  always  had  trouble  to  distinguish  between 
metonymy,  synecdoche,  etc.     One  day  it  was  reveal  e<  1 
to  him  that  there  was  no  need  of  knowing.    Similar 
revelations  have  cleared  several  big  obstacles  from 
my  own  path.    But  the  need  of  knowing  the  central 
fact  about  figures  of  speech — "what  is  compared  to 
what?" — is  vital  for  apprehending  a  lively  style  or 
livening  one's  own  composition.    The  longer  we 
h,  the  more  we  see  the  value  of  extending  this 
form  of  exercise.    All  bungling  and  mixing  of  figures 
is  primarily  a  failure  to  know  "what  is  compared  to 
what." 
I  am  very  skeptical  about  the  wisdom  of  "eulti- 
ing  a  vocabulary/ '  because  it  may  result  in  such 
testimony   as   this,    written    by    an    <'i<rhth-,<>frader: 
"This  year  we  have  not   done  much   writing  as  we 

have  1 n  very  busy  on  other  subjects.  .  .  .  We  also 

had  some  large  words  to  digest  among  them,  "Cam- 
pan,  tlogy",  "Peripatel  Much  can  be  said  on 
both  sides;  all  depends  on  the  practical  sense  of  the 
teacher.  I  will  content  myself  with  one  observation: 
Searching  for  an  idea  is  always  a  useful  occupation, 


248  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

even  if  the  hunt  is  vain ;  but  a  meal  of  big  words  may 
not  digest. 

I  am  very  skeptical  about  the  wisdom  of  finding 
|  errors  in  selections  from  Thackeray,  Kipling,  Scott, 
I  et  al.    In  the  first  place,  they  are  probably  so  unim- 
portant that  you  have  no  time  for  them.    Secondly, 
there  is  always  the  peril  that  the  author  may  have 
known  what  he  was  about. 

We  are  all  too  likely  to  forget  that  the  models 
introduced  (selections  from  authors)  are  parts.  The 
opening  of  a  book,  the  description  of  a  room,  the 
paragraph  that  summarizes,  the  page  of  dialogue — 
all  are  fragments  of  a  large  whole.  They  are  models 
only  in  certain  aspects.  The  motifs  behind  them  and 
the  architecture  to  which  they  conform  may  be  an- 
tipodal to  any  sincere  effort  that  a  child  should  make. 
A  volume  of  short  examples  of  skilful  writing  has 
recently  appeared — an  excellent  and  much  needed 
device.  But  they  are  much  too  long  and  they  are 
still  too  obviously  fragments.  Try  to  find  a  few 
short  models  to  put  before  the  class,  samples  of 
something  like  their  kind  of  subject  matter.  How 
about  the  real  thing — the  best  compositions  written 
by  members  of  the  class?  How  about  the  school 
theme  as  a  somewhat  unreal  product,  which  may  in 
time  be  regarded  as  we  now  regard  "samplers"? 
How  about  an  effort  to  make  themes  a  bit  more  real 
by  assigning  topics  that  might  be  the  burden  of 
actual  letters  or  a  living  desire  to  persuade  someone 
to  do  what  you  want  ? 

HISTORY  OF  LITERATURE 

It  is  often  argued  that  a  history  of  literature 
should  not  be  attempted  in  schools,  because  we  have 


ODDS  AND  ENDS  249 

•  al  with  such  tabloids  of  development,  such  mor- 
sels of  criticism,  such  a  pile  of  opinion  that  cannot 
be  based  on  reading.  The  effect  of  unentertaining 
biography  has  been  humorously  described  on  page 

m. 1  other  objections,  unquestionably  valid,  could 
be  adduced.  But,  after  all,  these  objections  apply 
equally  to  an  outline  of  American  history,  and  the 
schools  know  that  that  study  is  one  of  the  most  val- 
uable subjects  in  the  curriculum.  So  experience 
shows  that  the  right  history  of  literature,  if  rightly 

lied,  is  a  valuable,  an  almost  indispensable,  part 
of  a  school  course  in  English. 

Most  texts  are  vitiated  by  critical  phraseology  and 
the  unsympathetic  use  of  abstract  terms.  If  you  are 
allowed  to  choose,  decide  against  a  book  which  says 
tliat  the  Saxons  "  worshiped  gods  who  were  the  per- 
sonification of  the  forces  of  nature* '  and  choose  the 
one  which  says  that  they  made  the  Christian  mission- 
68  preach  on  a  little  island  in  the  open  air  be- 
Be  "they  had  no  idea  of  hearing  strange  teachings 
under  a  roof  where  mairie  might  easily  overpower 
them."  The  difference  between  those  two  presenta- 
tions is  the  difference  between  sleep  and  waking. 
Discard  the  book  that  refers  abstractly  to  Gold- 
smith's eccentricities  and  adopt  the  one  that  names 
the  scarlet  breeches.  Try  to  gather  anecdotes  and 
striking  facts  ahout  author.-;  aim  at  some  picture  of 
them  as  pei  ndeavor  to  convey  a  definite  im- 

oul  the  one  mjaai  striking  feature 
author's  work,  rather  iom  and  estimate 

and  of  names.    It  is  much  better  to  omit 

half  the  writers  and  concentrate  on  the  big  names 
than  to  secure  an  indiscriminate  blend  of  many  au- 

s.    A  chart  will  do  more  in  a  minute  to  rescue 


? 


250  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Marlowe  from  the  twelfth  century  than  half  an  hour 
of  rehearsing  dates. 

MEMOEIZING 

All  my  life  I  have  regretted  that  in  my  youth  I 
did  very  little  memorizing.  Men  without  any  pride 
in  literary  attainments  have  been  glad  of  little  poems 
or  passages  that  became  theirs  in  school.  Tell  your 
classes  such  testimony.  The  why  of  it  is  harder  to 
present.  When  time  can  be  spared,  assign  a  memory 
lesson. 

TESTS 

It  is  better  to  have  short  and  easy  lessons,  strictly 
graded,  than  longer  assignments  that  are  loosely 
accounted  for.  The  same  principle  holds  for  exami- 
nations. Fairly  simple  and  direct  questions,  graded 
more  strictly,  are  better  evidence  of  a  pupil  's  knowl- 
edge and  better  training  for  him.  He  is  spurred  up 
by  finding  he  did  not  know  the  easy  topic ;  disgruntled 
and  self-excusing  if  he  thinks  he  failed  because  of 
catch-questions.  Every  English  examination  (unless 
it  is  mere  grammar)  must  be  understood  to  be  a  test 
in  writing.  Perfect  knowledge  and  careless  writing 
may  be  worth  anywhere  from  60  to  0,  according  to 
circumstances.    It  ought  to  be  0. 

Always  plan  tests  and  examinations  with  a  view 
to  easy  grading — i.e.,  how  much  each  part  is  going 
to  count,  and  how  definite  are  the  units  that  you  have 
a  right  to  require. 

Don 't  make  an  invalid  of  yourself  by  correcting 
papers.  The  more  you  can  handle,  the  better.  But 
make  a  time  limit  of  reasonable  hours  and  refuse  to 
be  killed.  Study  ways  of  speeding  up  the  correcting. 
Some  sets  of  class  tests  can  be  graded  in  very  short 


ODDS  AND  i:  251 

order,  and  with  justice  to  .ill.  Sou  may  pause  to  see 
If  Susie  has  a  sentence-error,  but  Algernon's  paper 
shows  at  a  glance  that  it  is  worth  100.  Don 't  let  the 
conscience  destroy  the  nerves.  Set  an  arbitrary 
standard  (a  good  brain  >lmul<l  have  known  enough, 
e.g.,  to  put  in  reasonable  order  four  points  out  of  a 
possible  six)  and  grade  mechanically,  always  reserv- 
ing the  right,  if  it  doesn't  take  extra  time,  to  add  a 
little  credit  for  an  original  handling.  If  you  have 
required  a  long  exercise  to  be  written  out,  don't  try 
to  n>a<l  the  entire  paper.  Grade  on  the  basis  of  a 
selected  fourth  or  fifth  of  the  work.  Find  the  quick 
way.  The  excessive  amount  of  time  and  nerve-force 
u- -(I  by  some  teachers  in  marking  papers  is  suicidal. 
Work  easily.  Keep  the  mill  running.  Never  stop  to 
debate  the  "mightn't  I  be  unjust?"  Always  study 
for  serenity  and  celerity. 

8TEMMING  THE  TIDE 

Have  nothing  to  do  with  the  crusaders  who  fight 
for  logical  purity  or  academic  nicety  or  lexicographi- 
cal sovereignty.  You  have  too  much  else  to  attend 
to.  You  will  need  to  slaughter  "I  seen"  and  "they 
done,"  but  you  can  refuse  to  notice  those  subtleties 
<»t  long  u's  and  broad  a's  and  "guess,"  and  <»t  dic- 
tion generally.  In  no  department  are  most  of  us  so 
a  i  ong-headed  as  in  pronunciation.  To  try  to  drill  n 
class  in  "rule"  and  "laugh,"  where  those  sounds 
art*  not  native,  is  to  destroy  the  respect  of  pupils  for 
your  judgment  in  other  matters.  Yon  may  have  to 
insist  on  "picturesque"  in  three  syllables,  because 
no  educated  human  being  pronounces  it  in  four ;  but 
v on  are  not  to  inculcate  "octopus"  just  because  that 
is  the  only  pronunciation   given  by  the  Century. 


252  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

Don't  even  waste  energy  on  stemming  the  tide  of  "it 
is  me."  Never  use  the  logic  of  these  tide-stemmers 
as  a  weapon.  The  fact  that  is  never  takes  an  object 
is  no  guarantee  that  "it's  me"  is  wrong.  "Seen" 
is  not  vulgar  because  of  any  grammatical  ratiocina- 
tion ;  it  happens  that  careful  people  do  not  use  it  as 
a  preterit;  just  as  it  merely  happens  that  present- 
day  collars  are  not  ruffs. 

CHAEITY 

Remember  that  The  Spectator  was  in  its  day  the 
new  and  non-classical  thing,  the  ephemeral  frippery 
of  its  age.  It  is  safe  now  to  put  Tom  Sawyer  on  our 
reading  lists;  imagine  the  hardihood  of  doing  it 
twenty-five  years  ago.  The  taste  of  the  average 
reader  may  not  be  so  much  in  need  of  directing  as  we 
think. 

Be  patient  with  what  appears  so  stupid.  The  next 
time  you  are  tempted  to  complain  of  the  dullness  of 
pupils  sit  down  for  an  hour  with  something  you  know 
nothing  about — say  electrical  potential,  or  our  fed- 
eral judiciary,  or ' '  selling  short, ' '  or  what  * i  rhythm ' ' 
means  as  applied  to  French  verse.  By  the  time  you 
have  attained  a  crystal-clear  conception  you  will  feel 
charitable  toward  the  mental  failure  of  a  child  who 
has  not  grasped  a  new  idea. 

KEEPING  INFOEMED 

Resolve  at  the  outset,  and  renew  the  resolution 
frequently,  not  to  be  a  victim  of  pedagogic  sclerosis. 
In  no  subject  is  it  so  easy  to  harden  into  wrong  con- 
victions. What  begins  as  a  mere  choice  or  impulse 
may  in  time  grow  to  seem  a  momentous  principle. 
\      SubscTiheJAJli&JZnglish- Journal,  a  monthly  pub- 


ODDS  and  BNDfi 

Ii-hed  at  the  Univ  of  Chicago  Press,  at  $2.50 

per  year.  English  is  at  present  a  welter  of  opinions. 
Changes  are  upon  us  and  more  are  coming.  You 
will  be  more  sure  of  yourself  if  you  follow  develop- 
ments. This  book  gives  frequent  evidence  of  how 
useful  the  Journal  has  been  to  the  author. 

The  Bulletin  of  the  Illinois  Association,  a  leaflet 
published  eight  times  a  year,  contains  many  articles 
of  a  practical  and  directly  useful  nature.  Teachers 
of  English  may  be  placed  on  the  free  mailing-list  by 
sending  their  names  to  Professor  H.  G.  Paul,  Urbana, 
Illinois 

A  similar  bulletin,  the  Leaflet  of  the  New  England 
Association  of  Teachers  of  English,  is  published 
monthly  during  the  school  year.  The  subscription 
is  a  dollar  a  year.  Address  The  Editor,  Newton, 
Mass. 

DISCIPLINE 

Perhaps  you  are  thinking:  "Yes,  yes,  but  what 
about  the  actual  details  of  the  first  five  minutes  and 
the  tii  >t  week!"  Unless  you  are -unusually  fortunate 
you  will  be  dealing  more  with  discipline  than  with 
the  beauties  of  Evangeline.  Petty  disorders  or  con- 
certed botherations  will  distract  you.  Advice  about 
handling  these  would  be  as  futile  as  directions  to 
parents  about  punishing  children.  But  handle  them. 
Remember  that  the  individuals  before  you  in  the 
classroom  arc  normally  decent  human  beings,  as  in- 
dividuals. As  a  body  they  may  be  demons.  Be  pre- 
pared for  this.  An  even  temper  (or  a  savage  one), 
hitting  the  other  fellow  first  (or  turning  your  un- 
smittcn  cheek) — whatever  your  method  is,  go  out  for 
good  order.     Din  icties  until  the  ground  is 

ready  for  the  seed. 


s* 


254  WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 

*  Discipline  is  the  exercise  of  personality;  hence  no 
person  can  advise  another  about  it  or  analyze  his 
own  methods  or  follow  his  own  analysis.  The  only 
hint  I  ever  got  that  helped  ranch  was  this:  "Yon 
are  not  contending  against  a  crowd,  but  against  in- 
dividuals. Only  as  you  get  acquainted  with  individ- 
uals, make  individuals  respond,  can  you  handle  the 
crowd. ' '  All  good  discipline  comes  from  the  display 
of  strength,  which  may  be  manifested  by  a  quiet 
serenity  or  by  a  cruel  sarcasm  or  by  humorous  inti- 
.  macy — or  in  a  dozen  other  ways.  Whatever  the  ex- 
J  pression,  strength  is  the  fact.  A  teacher  who  scolds 
is  weak;  one  who  argues  is  weak;  it  is  weakness  to 
threaten  what  you  will  do  "if ";  it  is  always  a  weak- 
ness to  lose  self-control,  or  to  talk  angrily;  it  is  ut- 
terly weak  to  plead  for  good  order. 

Beware  of  being  led  into  talking.  Pupils  love 
nothing  better  than  to  raise  questions  for  the  sake 
of  killing  time  and  amusing  themselves.  In  no  way 
is  a  teacher  so  easily  fooled  as  by  that  hope  that  he 
is  charming  a  class*  with  a  dissertation.  Ten  to  one 
he  is  duped  by  some  clever  boy  who  doesn't  know 
the  lesson. 

A  WORD  ABOUT  DISCOURAGEMENT 

In  Milton's  outline  of  school  studies  he  proposes 
that  Italian  should  be  mastered  in  those  odd  mo- 
ments not  otherwise  provided  for.  If  one  who  has 
himself  done  a  little  teaching  can  be  guilty  of  such 
sublime  nonsense,  what  may  you  not  expect  to  have 
urged  upon  you  who  teach  "only  English"? 

I  have  heard  a  man  describe  how  he  taught  his 
wife  and  daughter  to  swim  before  they  went  into 
the  water.    I  am  not  joking;  neither  was  he.    If  such 


ODDS  AND  KXDS  255 

a  prodigy  of  tuition  is  reported,  how  ready  will  the 
world  be  to  declare  that  you  are  an  inefficient  teacher 
of  "justEnglisi 

The  country  is  full  of  the  records  of  wonderful 
results  in  mother-tongue  instruction.  Shall  we  w.i 
in  despair — you  and  I,  the  mediocre  ones?  Not  until 
pedagogy  is  so  developed  that  Italian  is  taught  inci- 
dentally and  swimming  is  learned  by  sprawling  half 
an  hour  in  the  sand. 

The  world  loves  to  wave  before  us  these  Miltonic 
danlemento,  to  shame  us  with  tales  of  English  Edens 
newly  made  over  there  at  the  end  of  the  rainbow  by 
some  god-like  teacher.  But  if  discouragement  comes 
from  hearing  of  lofty  deeds  of  education,  think  of 
King  Arthur.  When  the  light  and  lazy  Gawaine 
proposed  the  quest  of  the  Holy  Grail,  it  was  the  king 
who  inveighed  against  the  splendid  undertaking.  On 
what  ground?  He  granted  the  holiness  of  the  proj- 
ect, but  protested  that  it  would  ruin  Camelot  and 
restore  paganism.  His  prophecy  was  fulfilled.  It 
applies  in  fulness  of  wisdom  to  us  knights  of  the 
Table  Round  of  English.  Our  vows  should  not  bind 
us  to  "follow  wandering  fires,"  but  by  plain  tasks 
of  knighthood  to  preserve  Camelot. 


IXDKX 


Accuracy 

of  French  boy*,  12,  13 
difficulty  of  securing,  17,  19 

with  .harm,  19 
demanded  in  American  Univer- 
.17.  21,22, 1M 
tnded  by  business  men,  26 
demanded  at  Harvard,  115 
in  themes,  192 
essential,  255 

»,  89, 107 
rbs,  82,  90,  92,  101 
Aldus, 

Alright,  45,  46,  69 
Annotation*.  24] 

elation,  20,  23 

low's  Manual.  1l'l\  178 
Brown,  \i.  W..  12 

.lizing,  "0.  117 
Classics,  see  Reading 

importance  of,  80,  86,91 
teaching  of,  91 
noun,  lit,  114,  II!' 

fives) 

letta  oi  i  »M72 

College  entrance  requiremc; 

175.  187 
ma 
nature  of.   12H  1  V2 
def- 


with  parentheses,  178 

with  dashes,  180 

and  see  Sentence-error 
Comma  blunder,  see  Sentence- 
error 
Composition 

the  objective  in  France,  14 

defined,  20 

subject  of  this  book,  26 

separate  college  requirement,  27 
Compound  words,  70 
Conjugations,  108 
Conjunctions,  82,  91,  92,  101,  111, 

111,  159,  174 
Connectives,  82,  and  see  Conjunc- 
tions,  Adverbs 
Cook  and  O  'Shea,  37 

Dash,  179-183,  188 
"Demons"  of  spelling.  W,  49 
Dictation  of  spelling.  71 
Diction,  33,96,  216,  M4,  HI 
Diagraming.  112-114 

Discouragement,  254 
Diacrih, .  87,    |] 

•J  17 

Kllipses,  84,  87 

Knglish 
variety  of  subjects,  11,  24 
proportion   of   novice   teachers. 

11 
compared  with  mathemat: 


187 


258 


WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 


English 

facts  of  practice,  16 

changing  conception  of,  17,  20 

teacher  in  different  relation  to 

pupils,  31,  98 
compared  with  arts,  203 

English  Journal,  18,  49,  121,  252 

Essentials,  see  Accuracy 

Exercises 

important  in  grammar,  93,  99 
important  in  rhetoric,  246 
not  altogether  on  topic,  93 

Experience,  this  book  based  on,  12 

France,     method     with     mother- 
tongue,  12-14 

Gender,  86 
Gerund,  92 
Grammar 

function,  Chap.  IV 

teaching,  Chap.  V 

in  France,  13 

for  college  entrance,  27,  74 

compared  with  arts,  74 

Newman 's  estimate,  76 

as  basis  for  other  languages,  76 

nomenclature,  76 

for  composition,  77,  79,  81,  83, 
84,  87,  113 

horrors  of,  77 

false  emphasis,  77,  78,  85,  113 

clauses,  see  Clauses 

relatives,  see  Eelatives 

dread  of,  82,  84 

classification    by   function,    85, 
100 

Latin  models,  85 

classification  of  forms,  86 

parts  of  speech,  87-92,  98-111 

nouns,  88,  102-104,  112 


pronouns,  88,  99,  104 
adjectives,  89,  107 
adverbs,  90,  101 
verbs,  90,  108,  109 
prepositions,  90,  101,  107,  111 
conjunctions,  see  Conjunctions 
adverbs  not  conjunctions,  92 
verbals,  92,   98,    99,    103,  109, 

110,  111 
exercises,  93,  99 
not  literary  selections,  93 
1 '  small ' '  value,  94 
compared  with  algebra,  95 
futility  of  arguing  about,  96 
manuals  for,  97 
schematizing,  98,  99 
order  of  topics,  98,  102 
transitive  and  intransitive,  see 

Transitive 
subject  of  verb,  103 
subject  of  infinitive,  110 
conjugations,  108 
mood,  90,  108 
phrases,  111 
diagraming,  112-114 

Habits,  power  of  bad,  32 

Hall,  J.  L.,  34 

Harvard,  20,  21,  116 

Hillegas  scale,  190 

History  of  literature,  233,  248 

How  the  French  Boy  Learns  to 

Write,  12 
Hyphens,  68,  70 

ie,  47 

Ignorance  of  teachers,  97,  252 
Illinois  Association  Bulletin,  253 
Illinois    University,    17    (3),    73, 

191 
Infinitives,  92,  110,  111 


INDKX 


Inspiring  pupils,  76,  218,  2l 
Intransitive,  tee  Transit  i\.- 
Introducing  words,  176,  181 
It,  104,  111 

Jones,  W.  F.,  38 

Latin   models  for  English  gram- 
mar, 85 
Leonard,  8.  A.,  198 
Literary  atmosphere  of  textbooks* 

16 
Literary  models  for  themes,  28, 

196,  248 
Literary  motive  in  France,  13 
Literary  selections  for  grammar, 

93 
Literature 

relative  importance,  25,  27 
history  of,  248 
see  Reading 
Lounsbury,  T.  R.,  33 

MacauUiy  misspelled,  49,  63 

Manutius,  133 

Maps.  MA 

Mechanics,  10,  21,  30,  76,  77,  and 
see  Accuracy 

Memorizing,  250 

Meredith,  19 

Misspellings 

lists  of  common,  38-40,  43,  49-61 
different  degrees  of,  63,  200 
on  themes. 

Mood,  90,  108 

Near-by,  217 

New  England  Association  Leaf- 
let, 253 
Newman,  76 
Notes,  241 
Nouns,  88,  102104,  112 


Novice,  teacher,  10,  11,  31 

Oral  Composition,  26 
Outlines  in  themes,  195,  £08 

Paragraphing,  210 

Parentheses,  177 

Participles,  92,  98,  111,  165 

Parts  of  speech 
classified,  85,  86 
defined,  87 
order  of  attack,  99 

Pedagogy,  experts  in,  10 

Periodicals  for  teachers,  252,  253 

Phrases,  87,  111,  164 

Poe,  199 

Possessives,  61 

Prepositions,  90,  101,  107,  111 

Princeton,  18 

Printing,  early,  134 

Pronouns,  88,  89,  99,  104,  and  see 
Relatives 

Pronunciation,  251 

Punctuation 
in  France,  13 
importance  of,  Chnp.   VI 
nature  of,  Chap.  VII 
code  of,  Chap.  V 1 1 1 
conspectus  of  rules,  185188 
recent   emphasis  in   textbooks, 

117 
causes  good  sentences,  116,  117, 

127 
ignorance  of,  in  textbooks,  117- 

Itl 
sources  of  rules 
concreteness  in  teaching,  126 
"intrinsic"  character  of,  130 
antiquity  of,  133135 
"pause"  theory,  135-137 
function  of  comma,  137139 
nature  of  rules,  139,  150,  156 


260 


WHAT  IS  ENGLISH? 


Punctuation 

by  individual  taste,  140,  142 
a  social  custom,  142-144 
basis  of  usage,  144-150 
determined  by  publishers,  146 
code  in  periodicals,  148 
horrors  of,  151 
brings  freedom,  152 
authorities,  136,  154 
manuals,  155 

possibility  of  complete  code,  156 
exclamation  mark,   157 
comma,  158-172,  185-187 
semicolon,    157,   159,    172,   180, 
181,   187,  and  see  Sentence- 
error 
colon,  175,  187 
quotation  marks,  176 
parentheses,  177,  183,  188 
dashes,  179,  183,  188 
at  beginning  of  a  line,  184 
puzzles,  184 

' '  open ' '  and  ( '  close, ' '  184 
the  few  important  matters,  184, 
215 

Reading 

nature  of,  219s 

classics,  221,  229-238,  252 

inspiring  a  love  of,  221,  238 

what  pupils  enjoy,  226 

love  of  by  teachers,  228 

importance,  229 

as  education,  230,  235,  237 

history  of  literature,  233,  248 

lack  of  power  to  read,  235,  238, 

240 
social  approval,  235 
facts  of  lesson,  238 
tests,  239 
not  critical  attack,  240 


annotations,  241 
supplementary,  242 
choosing  books,  242 
Reading  aloud,  240 
Relatives,  80,   89,   105,  106,  107, 

169 
Restrictive     and     non-restrictive, 

166-172 
Rhetoric,  244 

need  of  exercises,  245 
figures   of  speech,   246 
vocabulary,  247 
errors  in  literature,  248 
models,  248 
Rudiments,  see  Accuracy 

Semicolon,  157,  159,  172,  180,  181, 

187,  and  see  Sentence-error 
Self-expression,  20 
Sentence 

in  French  teaching,  13 
importance,  28,  30 
improved  by  punctuation,  116- 
118 
Sentence-error,  79,  81,  83,  87,  92, 
121,  151,   159,  173-175,  213, 
216 
Sentence-sense,  see  Sentence-error 
Seperate,  37,  41 
Shall  and  will,   17,   77,   78,   216, 

244,  245 
Shepherd,  43 
Simplified  spelling,  70 
1 *  Since ' '  story,  72 
Social  approval,  197,  218,  235 
Spacing  words,  217 
Spelling 

nature  of  difficulty,  36 
visual,  36 

number  of  words  to  be  studied, 
37-41 


INDEX 


2*1 


Bpeffiaf 

mov,"  39 
second-grade     words     in     Ugfc 

acho< 
in  the  grades,  38-40 
overcoming   wrong   habits,   40, 
.  43 
fusion,  43,  68 
intensive.  44,  63,  64 
similar  forms  together,  45,46,61 
proper  names,  49 
emphasis  in  proportion  to  com- 
monness, 49,  62 
list   of   words   most    commonly 
misspelled  in  high  school,  49- 
61 
poasesaives,  61 

three  kinds  of  misspellings,  63 
dignity  of,  64 
principles,  64 
rule*,  65-70 
by  sound,  65,  69 
not  showing  wrong  forms,  70 
compounds,  70 
rules  lacking,  70 
simplified,  70 
grading  of  tests,  71 

ition,  71 
correcting  by  pupil,  72 
difficulty  of  teaching,  72 
importance  of  at   Illinois  and 
Yak, 
Stoddard,  199 

>d,  41,  64,  65 
Style  in  themes,  23 
Subjects  of  verbs,  103 


Subjects  of  infinitives,  110 

Subjunctive,  108 

* 

Talking  too  much,  240,  254 
Tests,  written,  189,  B50 
Textbooks,  ignorant  •>   in,   35,  96, 
117,  1__ 

Th.'tnes 

drafta,  16,  35,  209,  218 

lack  of  uniformity   in  grading, 
189 

literary  criterion,  190,  192,  196 

accuracy  criterion,  192 

mechanical   grading,   193,   198, 
199-204,  US,  81  I 

outlines,  195,  208 

orderly  thinking,  194,  201,  204 

interesting,  197,  198,  204 

social  approval,  197 

topics,  204,  208 

concreteness   in    <lire<-tions   for 
205,  309,  1 1 1 

kinds  of,  206 

introduction      and     conclusion, 
208 
There  and  their,  42 
To  for  too,  42,  200 
Transitive,  85,  88,  90,  102,  107 

Verbs,  90,  108,  109 
Vocabulary 

Whittier,  219 
Wilson,  -John.  HI  ISO 
Wisconsin,  17  (4),  191 

Yale,  73 


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